The Crosses of Christ

The Crosses of Christ

Mountain Grove man distributes hand-made crosses by the thousands

By Allen Palmeri
Staff Writer

November 23, 2004

JEFFERSON CITY – A member of Southside Baptist Church, Mountain Grove, said he has passed out an estimated 67,000 crosses to celebrities and common citizens, witnessing to them through the power of long metal nails, J-B Weld and copper wiring.

James Jones, who reads water meters for the City of Mountain Grove, has given his crosses to Vice President Dick Cheney, former Vice President Al Gore, Pope John Paul II, race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and cyclist Lance Armstrong. He’s also given them to non-celebrities.

“The Spirit tells me what to do,” Jones said. “I’ve given them to homeless people before. I give them to everybody. If God wants me to give them a cross, I’ll have a cross for them.”

How can he afford to pay for so many crosses?

“God always finds ways for me to have money,” said Jones, 50. “I find money, believe it or not, lying around on the streets when I read water meters.”

His pastor, Roger Flint, said that Jones is known for what he does.

“He is very passionate about his crosses,” Flint said. “He is very, very faithful in passing those crosses out. He does have a great love for the Lord and a great love for people.”

Jones became emotional, with a tear in his eye, when asked to explain how God has blessed him.

“He’s blessed me in a lot of different ways,” Jones said. “It gives me a chance to witness to somebody that they might not have ever been witnessed to before. It gives me hope. It gives me the strength to go on. There are a lot of people that don’t get witnessed to because of what they look like, what kind of clothes they’ve got on. God is for everybody.”