DAVID CITY (AHS/SNR) – From throwing rocks at a Catholic Church to evangelizing the Catholic faith, Devin Jones shared his testimony at Aquinas Catholic Schools in David City Nov. 12.
Jones was baptized in a Baptist Church in Chicago. His church’s main mission was to convert Catholics into becoming Baptists, and Jones said it was very successful at bringing Catholics away from the Church.
“It was very strategic,” Mr. Jones said. Their church would match when the Catholic Masses concluded. “That way we could hand out pamphlets with Biblical verses on why you shouldn’t be Catholic.”
After high school, Jones fell away from practicing any faith. During his freshman year in college he prayed for God to send him a sign if he should be Catholic.
“I was raised very Old Testament Baptist with huge signs of bushes burning and the earth opening up,” he said.
The next day outside a Catholic Church, there was a physical sign that read, “If you want to become Catholic, call this number.”
Jones wasn’t convinced that was his sign, he said. He wanted winds and thunder from God. Eventually, the sign was taken down and he prayed the same prayer, “Send me a sign if you want me to become Catholic.”
The next day, the same sign was up. Again, Jones went about his business and the sign was eventually taken down. He asked for a third time for God to send him a sign.
The following day, the church sign was up.
“I wanted the bush in front of my house to start burning, not a little old church lady putting up a sign,” Jones laughed, “I knew if I didn’t listen this time, the ground might open up and swallow me whole.”
Devin Jones called the number, entered into the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation) program. He received his first Communion and Confirmation in the same church where he once threw rocks.
After becoming Catholic he wanted to help bring the Totus Tuus program to his Catholic parish. In order for that to happen, Jones traveled to Seward, Nebraska for training. There he met Beth Nemec, who serves as director of campus ministry at Aquinas, and her family.
Jones studied in the seminary for two years before dropping out and finishing his education degree. Three weeks into his first year as a teacher, one of his sixth-grade students was playing basketball with his friends in the park, and was shot and killed in a drive by shooting.
“Be grateful for what you have, for what you don’t have to see,” he told the Aquinas audience.
Jones has taught students with family members who were killed, in prison, addicted, or just absent. He explained at Aquinas that “kids your age don’t grow up seeing a future for themselves. Most kids didn’t know where their next meal would be.”
Two brothers he was teaching were essentially homeless. They would go to whichever homeless shelter had room for them that night.
“Sometimes they had to get on the bus at 3 in the morning,” Jones explained, “Just to get to school on time.”
Living from homeless shelter to shelter is imaginable to most kids, he said, and encouraged the kids to imagine going through that while carrying all their homework and possessions, plus completing their homework and keeping their grades up. Jones made the life-changing choice to help these boys.
“Essentially, I adopted these boys,” said Mr. Jones.
In order to support them, he changed careers to the U.S. Navy. In the Navy, he was assigned to the Master of Arms, which is like the police. Jones said he saw lots of pain and heartache, including suicides.
“Through the gifts that Jesus gave me, I helped people through painful experiences,” Mr. Jones said. “No matter what you are going through, the light or the darkness, Jesus is the light.”
