Summer 2009 | Volume 67, No. 4

Quincy Jones: Text-Driven Revival

by Benjamin Hawkins

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Quincy Jones, a student in the College at Southwestern, would agree that he has come a long way since his drug-riddled adolescence in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

A native of Silver Spring, Md., Jones grew up attending church under the care of a mother deeply committed to the Gospel and to the church. He made an apparent profession of faith at age 9, but neither his good upbringing nor this profession kept him from hypocrisy, drugs, and trouble with the law.

At the age of 21, Jones attended a church service. It had been years since he set foot inside the church, but this time, his life would change. He listened as the preacher read from 2 Corinthians 5:17, where Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (NKJV). Jones repented of his sins and accepted the mercy of God.

After his conversion, Jones and two of his friends formed the hip-hop group, Christcentric. They produced songs—for example, “Mighty Fortress” and “Sufficiency of Scripture”—that were filled with theological content and allusions to both church history and Scripture.

Today Jones lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with his wife, Rhonda, and their five children. He is completing his Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with a concentration in the history of ideas, and he hopes to pursue graduate and possibly doctoral studies at Southwestern.

This spring, Jones proclaimed God’s Word in churches outside the Bible Belt during Southwestern’s Spring Evangelism Practicum. With a heart for preaching, he volunteered for two rounds of the practicum.

At Faith Fellowship Baptist Church in Lansing, Mich., Jones preached during several revival services and shared the Gospel in the community and on the campus of Michigan State University.

At Come As You Are Community Church in Fort Wayne, Ind., Jones preached during a youth revival and performed some Christ-centered hip-hop during a church-wide talent show.

After performing at the talent show, Jones spoke of the return of Christ as it is explained in 2 Peter 3, the passage upon which his hip-hop rhyme was based. As a result, Jones says, four or five people raised their hands to confess their need for a Savior, and one of them talked with Jones afterward, giving his life to Christ.

“Regardless of the size of the church, those who gather to worship Christ are the people of God,” Jones said while reflecting on the practicum. “The biggest thing that God’s people need is His Word preached to them faithfully.” He was also reminded to depend on the Spirit’s empowering, “just trusting the Lord to take my offering of my study and my preparation, and to give me clarity of thought in the midst of preaching.”

To view a video interview of Jones, visit www.swbts.edu/QJonesvideo.

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