Wyatt Jones, III, Pastoral Associate, Church of the Precious Blood, Detroit
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My name is Wyatt Lafayette Jones III, I'm 21 years old and I am the Pastoral Associate at the Church of the Precious Blood.

How long have you been in church work?

I've been involved with church all my life; I've been associated with church work for about a year. The reason for it is because my father is involved with church.

What's in church work for you? Why are you involved?

I've always been intrigued with the church. I've always wanted to talk to and communicate with people in the church. It always seemed like the best place to talk with people. There are people who are interested in what you do and just what your lifestyle is and so I just jumped fully into it when I was in college. Thinking about what I wanted to do and how important the church was to me, I just decided maybe it was something I would like to check out.

When you were kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Growing up, I always wanted to be a doctor. I think a lot of kids want to be a doctor. Part of it was because I wanted to feel like I could help people; that something that I did in my life affected someone else. That started to change once I started school and I didn't like math as much and so I thought maybe that's not the job for me. I stayed with it all the way through high school. And I got into college and I started to look at what I wanted to do and what I didn't really want to do. I knew my main goal was to be able to communicate with people everyday, feel that what I'm doing matters, and that I'm helping people. So I kind of looked towards the church. I was actively involved with church ministry during school and so I decided, "hey, this maybe something!" It's not a doctor but I'm also helping people on a regular basis.

What are some of the things you did to prepare yourself for this career?

I've always been involved in the church. Like a lot of things I did, I was a volunteer at the local parishes in the community where my school was. I started off as a religious studies minor so I took a lot of religious classes and a lot of theology when I was in school. Then every time I came home for the summer, I was involved in some church, whether that was youth ministry or mentoring or anything like that so I've always been in there somewhere helping out.

How did your college coursework help prepare you for lay ministry?

My undergrad is in communications and history. I started off with communications and religious studies by taking classes to prepare me because I still wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do but I think that helped me a lot in figuring out that this may be the job I wanted to do.

Now that you've been in ministry for a year or so, what are the career prospects for you? What do you see yourself doing in 5 yrs or 10 yrs?

Right now I am not actually sure. I think I'll keep my options open but I think church work and lay ministry is something that is embedded in me from my father and other people in my family. Right now, I think I'll focus on that. In five years, I really don't have an idea. I kind of just go day by day but I know I'm always going to have that church aspect in it at some point.

What do you do in your lay ministry position?

Basically I do everything. There are two people on staff. There is me and my father who is a minister. I do a range of stuff from answering the phones, to taking care of faxes and bank deposits. I have an emphasis on youth ministry so I'm working within our community there. We have a basketball court, which is our biggest asset. People come play basketball everyday, and we're out there and we're ministering to them, trying to get them actively involved in church. So I do a range of things at the church right now.

What are your gifts? What makes you good at what you do?

I think one gift is I like to speak, I like to talk and I talk all the time. So one gift is interaction, personal interaction between people. I think I have a gift to listen and to also talk and so that is one of my gifts. Another gift is being the son of my father who also does the same thing, so just being associated with him helps me and I think that's my biggest gift.

What do people think about your career choice, particularly your contemporaries?

A lot of friends and other family understand why I'm doing it because they see where it comes from. But a lot of friends wonder why I decided to do this. Why did I go to college to work in the church and things like that? I think they don't quite understand it all the way, but I'm trying to show them and help them understand a little more so, they're coming to ask me why I decided to do this.

Why did you decide to do it?

Because it just seemed like I tried to run away from it. I think because the church works for my father and other people in my family it was just a calling for me too. Not be totally immersed in it as being a priest or deacon, but some type of involvement in the church on a regular basis so I think this is how I ended up here.

You used the word "calling." What do you mean by that?

What I mean by that is I always knew that I should be involved in the church. Before a while I wasn't sure to the extreme of what it would be, so I thought, "I'm going to try to push that to the side. I really don't want to do that. I want to do other things." It just kept jumping in front of me and so I think the calling part was that I understood at this point this is what is set up in my life for me to do and that I have to do it. I don't have to do it but it's something that I should try and so that's where I am now.

If you weren't in lay ministry, what do you think you might be doing?

I would probably be doing social work; I know I want to go to graduate school for social work at some point because I like talking to people and problem solving. I like to hear people and try to work out people's problems so social work is something that I want to look into. I think that's what I would be doing.

What advantages do you think your age, race and personality provide to your ministry?

I think one thing is that I got involved at a younger age. I'm 21 and fresh out of college; I think that's one benefit. I'm an African American in an African American community which is another thing. And I think for a long time, people in the inner city didn't see leaders or people who are involved in the church who are African American. I think one of the greatest gifts is the fact that I'm working in the community where I come from so I'm able to relate to people's problems, talk to them, and explain to them in a way which they can understand the goodness of the church, the greatness of God and things like that. I think that's what's most important right now--just administering to my community and giving something back.

What do you feel like is your message?

I think that my message is one of hope that you can do what you want; to continue to strive to get better everyday. Whatever you're doing in you're life, whatever your job is, to strive to be the best. And if you can incorporate Jesus Christ into your life, that will make it much better. So I think that's what my message is. It's a message of hope and to continue to be persistent. Just work at being the best you can with Jesus Christ in your life.

How do you deliver that message?

Well, I told you about the basketball court and things like that. It's not a direct message where I'm out there and I'm preaching and I'm telling them about God. It maybe playing basketball and after the game is over, sitting on the side line and I just say, "do you go to church?" And if they say, "I don't go to church" its like "why don't you come check this out? You know you play basketball everyday—let's go into the church, let's talk. I have an office you can come in there you know we can just talk about God." Those little subtle things, and moments where you just talk to people, you just put it in their minds so they can think about it. So I think that's how I do it.

And does it work?

It works sometimes, but sometimes it doesn't work because sometimes people are there just to play basketball and I can understand that. But like I said, if I'm preaching to be persistent, then I do the same thing so I can continue to put the message out there and most of time you can get people to listen.

What do you love about your work?

I love to see the result of the work; I think that's my thing. I want to see people happy. I want to see that what I'm doing works and so my best thing is that I talk to someone and then I turn around on Sunday and they're in church! And then they come talk to me afterwards and we have a time we welcome all of our people to the church and they stand and tell where they're from and how they got there. I think that's my biggest reward right now.

What's the challenge of your job?

My challenge in my job is trying to figure out where I'm supposed to be in the church. What is my role and to what degree do I take it in the church? I think my challenge is that I'm 21 and I understand that I'm young in lay ministry. Will people listen to me? Are people willing to hear the message that I have and how do I go about giving that message to older people; I think that's my biggest challenge.

How is the compensation in lay ministry?

I think the compensation is the big issue when it comes to getting involved in lay ministry. The pay is not the best, I think I can say that, and I think if you get into this you have to understand the reward is what you get out of it and not always a great lump sum of cash. I don't think the salary that I make could take care of a family, but right now I'm living at home and saving up money. I think that would deter people of getting into the ministry so I think one of the major things is trying to raise the compensation for people who work because it's a lot of work and it's a reward and that could deter people from coming into the ministry.

Do you see yourself staying on this career path?

I do enjoy this but I do see myself at some point with more education maybe picking up a level of my job. I don't know. I just go day by day and try to figure it out but I do know the compensation has to be better in order to stay and that's the reality of this job.

What are some of the hats you wear in ministry and in life?

I'm Wyatt Jones, I'm a son, I'm a brother, I am boyfriend, I'm a football player, I'm a college graduate, I'm a minister, I'm a Christian, I'm an African American, I'm strong-minded, I'm so many things that I could say. God-fearing,

I'm constantly on the move trying to learn – that's me.

Do you have additional education plans?

Yeah, right now I'm actually enrolled at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. I'm taking classes to get into the graduate program for pastoral studies.

Why is that important?

I always want to keep my education going just because I think its important to learn and I just enjoy learning. I think when you're in this job, the more education; the more things that you know about it can help you in helping other people so that's my main reason for continuing education.

Would you recommend lay ministry to others?

I think I would refer lay ministry to people who are willing to understand that it takes a lot of work. It also takes time. You have to understand that it's a rewarding job when you get to see the results of what you do. This job helps people and you get to see that help. I think that's what's most important. I would refer this job to people who are willing to understand that and understand that this is a job where your reward will come when someone comes back to you and says "thank you for all you did for me, you took the time out to listen to me" or "you took out the time to give me advice" and I think that is what makes this job a great job.

What are some of the specific things you do in your ministry?

With this job, with the emphasis on youth ministry I do arrange a lot of things. We have the youth from our community come and we have an annual hot dog and chip day where we sit down and talk. It gives us a little time to explain what we do, the importance of God, and things like that. Then we allow them to play basketball and you just commune with other people in the community. We also went to World Youth Day and that was a great time. It rained, it stormed and everything but we were together and it was an opportunity for us to invite God in our lives and for people just to reflect on our lives. So I do a lot of things that are connected to youth on my job and just in my life in general.

Are there special challenges in your ministry?

One thing that I would like to say, in our community it is a 24-hour job because you have people who have concerns all the time and you're always trying to help someone else. This is not a 9 to 5. You don't get off and the doorbell stops ringing. Then the fact that my father is an administrator, we also stay at the parishes and there are people coming in at all times and they want to talk, they need assistance. I think when you get involved in this job you have to understand that it's a lifetime and it's a long term job that you do all the time but if you really and truly enjoy what you do you will like the rewards of it.

Why is God important in your life?

God is important in my life, definitely because I see what the Lord has done for me. I wake up everyday and right before I came in here today, I was in the parking lot, and I can't really complain. I have clothes on my back, I have a job, and I have parents who love me and just things like that show me that God is in my life. God is vibrant and He's always watching me and I never have to really worry. You know, I have day to day worries, but this is not really important as long as I know Jesus Christ is in my life, I'm ok and I don't really worry. That's my message to people.

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