After more than 20 years of service, local pastor Dr. Mike Jones was honored with a Heart of Service Award during his church service on Sunday.

The Heart of Service Award is given to individuals who make exceptional sacrifices and have a deep commitment to raising children up out of poverty to transform their lives and nations—people like Dr. Jones.

Dr. Jones joined COTN’s board in 2003 as one of its first members after going to the Dominican Republic and Sierra Leone in its early years of ministry. Before that, Dr. Jones mobilized COTN’s first short-term mission trip to the Dominican Republic. All these years later, you can still see Dr. Jones’s impact. Children go to school every day in the building his team built.

 

Dr. Jones receiving the Heart of Service Award at his church.

 

Dr. Jones is the pastor emeritus at Independent Bible Church in Port Angeles, Washington. He has served in ministry for over 50 years as a pastor. Dr. Jones has also taught pastors in over 25 countries.

Dr. Jones has advocated and raised funds for numerous projects for COTN including the refrigerator systems for Malawi. He’s also been a featured speaker at many national conventions both in the United States and abroad. He and his wife, Jan, dedicated COTN’s first home for children in Sierra Leone during the civil war there. Dr. Jones has been instrumental in organizing teams and sponsorships so children in Africa and the Caribbean can have food, clean water, education, and nurturing care.

 

 

“He brings perspective from ministry that we wouldn't get from someone in business,” said Chris Clark, founder and CEO of COTN.

Notably, Dr. Jones also held the first church service to highlight COTN child sponsorships, introducing the church to the urgent needs of children in Africa and the Caribbean. Over the years, Independent Bible Church, Dr. Jones’s church, has sponsored 169 children. His passion for vulnerable children has inspired him to reach out to countless people and ask them to sponsor a child in need. He is personally sponsoring four children, giving them food, education, and medical care.

"Mike is a passionate man of God," fellow board member Jackie Lang said. "He loves to serve God, read the Bible, memorize Scripture, and share the good news. He never shows fear, and always believes that God's plan is just perfect and just on time."

 

 

With the help of Dr. Jones, 5,000 children living in poverty are fed and cared for every day. Many children in this ministry go on to graduate high school, vocational school, and university and find careers that help their communities thrive. Dr. Jones’s dedication to children in need helps make these brighter futures possible for them.

 

 

 Church members give Dr. Jones a standing ovation for his many years of service.