Rev. Tamiko Jones has been the executive director and treasurer for Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas since November 2017. She finds her current role to be rewarding through the many relationships built across Texas, the country and the world.
What do Texas Baptists look like from where you are?
I view Texas Baptists as a tapestry of many races and ethnicities, woven together by our love for Christ.
Understanding that our journeys are unique, I agree with a statement made earlier this year by WMU Executive Director Sandra Wisdom-Martin, “Your view depends upon where you are standing.”
We may not always agree, but we should always seek to understand.
As we pursue God in order to reach our state through missions, it is imperative that we seek to reach people where they are standing.
What Baptist principle means the most to you, and why?
In this season of my life, especially as I serve in missions, I refer often to the priesthood of the believer.
The Baptist emphasis on the importance of every baptized believer of a local church body serving as a minister is a guiding principle for the work of WMU.
Based upon the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:16-20, the mission of WMU of Texas is making disciples of Jesus Christ who are courageously obedient to live on mission.
Each believer is accountable to God for living out the Scriptures. As a ministry, it is our hope to live our lives making disciples who make disciples.
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Describe a formative experience that guides your ministry.
As a high school freshman, I experienced the love of God through believers who answered a call to serve.
After a Friday night football game, in which my brother was a star player and I was a member of the drill team, my parents were involved in a tragic car accident returning home from the game. My mother suffered minor injuries; however, my father’s injuries were severe and permanent. Until his death 10 years later, he lived with limited mobility, requiring the use of a wheelchair and assistance from my mother for daily tasks.
For months after the accident, my father remained in a rehabilitation center, and this is when the church became real in my life.
Through the kindness of believers—many of them strangers, I further understood how to live a missional life and that we must serve in missions, not just across the world, but also across the street. Their actions toward my family during our time of physical and spiritual need strengthened my resolve to serve God and others for the rest of my life.
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