NSU alumnus Jones leads community center effort

Every neighborhood deserves a Pastor Willard Jonessomeone who embraces the community, identifies its needs and formulates innovative methods to meet them.

Jones, pastor of Greater Cornerstone Baptist Church and a 1974 graduate of Northeastern State University, is a spiritual and civic leader in Tulsa's South Haven neighborhood. He is receiving recognition for his efforts to establish a community center in west Tulsa. TulsaPeople magazine cited him in November 2011 as one of the city's "Unsung Heroes."

The innovation of the $6.9 million community center is its scope. It won't be a traditional multipurpose facility where people exercise or gather for meetings.

"When people think of a community center, they often think of a rec center," Jones said. "That is not the case with this facility. This isn't where you go to play basketball."

Instead, the community center will house multiple services targeted toward low-income residents. The 20,000 square feet will contain medical and dental clinics and social, vocational and educational programs. Domestic Violence Intervention Services, Family and Children's Services and Goodwill Industries of Tulsa will have branch facilities in the center. It opens in July 2012.

"This will offer an array of services under one umbrella," Jones said. "It will also offer after-school programs, food and clothing distribution. It will have a performance hall and even a community shelter. If power goes out during an ice storm, the people in the neighborhood will have access to locker rooms and showers."

The as-yet unnamed center will stand in the low-income South Haven neighborhood, which its residents are reclaiming with the leadership of people like Jones.

The first step toward recovery in South Haven began shortly after Jones became pastor at Greater Cornerstone. City law enforcement concentrated resources to minimize drug transactions and gang activity in the neighborhood. A physical adjustment followed when Habitat for Humanity, with which Jones is active, built nearly 100 homes. Jones said such efforts create an atmosphere which allows South Haven residents to take pride in their community.

"The mindset has changed to the point that other parts of Tulsa are taking notice of what is happening on the west side," he said. "People in this neighborhood now believe there are others who care about them. They haven't believed that in the past. They care about their property and Habitat for Humanity is facilitating home ownership. Now instead of people moving out, they are moving in."

It has taken determination to shepherd a 7-year project to near fruition. The idea began with Jones and the assistance of Phil Taylor, pastor of Carbondale Assembly of God in Tulsa, but the original plan called for a more practicable $800,000 concept.

After founding the Greater Cornerstone Community Development Project and successfully raising funds, Jones received praise from the project's supportersand one criticism.

"They kept talking about what a great idea this was, but wondered why it couldn't be bigger," he said. "By this time it had grown to almost $4 million. I told them the money I had acquired had been dictated by the feasibility study some of them had funded. They said to forget the study and make the facility bigger. It is now at $6.9 million. This project is funded through the foundation, corporations, individuals and several churches. It is being built with no tax dollars whatsoever from any level of government."

As the son of a pastor and twin brother of another, Jones' entry into the clergy may have seemed predictable. However, he first spent decades in education and the private sector, including as vice president of a telecommunications company.

"My brother and I roomed together at Northeastern," he said. "He went straight into it, but I ran from being a pastor. But I got to a place where I was running and couldn't run any more. I gave my first sermon in July 1995 and was named pastor at Greater Cornerstone in April 1996."

He accepted the post "reluctantly" and the launch of his new career was inauspicious.

"When I became pastor, there were only five people in this church," he said. "It was very challenging to see it empty Sunday after Sunday."

However, Jones has proven himself an ideal fit for the South Haven community. His church now welcomes hundreds each Sunday, and a community center which might once have seemed overambitious is months from opening.

"Being pastor here wasn't so good at first, and many times I asked God why He sent me here and why He would even have me enter the ministry," Jones said. "Now I believe I was chosen to meet these challenges. I was prepared in some ways and not in others. Where I was not prepared, God introduced me to the right people in the right places at the right times. Today, I am very happy and it is a pleasure to see what God can do and how powerful He is in my life and the lives of the people."

Jones also added his appreciation for his education at NSU, which he said provided some early lessons that can be applied to community leadership.

"I am proud to be a Northeastern graduate," he said. "There are some great people who have come out of that university. It is a great place to go to school and I would recommend it to anybody."