Gerrel Jones
A Story of Trauma, Redemption, and Mission, Part 2
Last week, my friend Gerrel Jones, the founder of Renew Birmingham (renewbham.org/), began sharing his story. I asked him to share it because it has had a deep impact on me and allowed me to see God more clearly. I thought you might see God’s hand on him as I have. Gerrel is a murderer and an ex-con. He is also an entrepreneur, a published author, and the founder of a nonprofit Christian ministry that is having a tremendous impact on violent crime in Ensley, Alabama.
Let’s continue Gerrel’s story.
Tod K. Vogt
Mission Alive
My mother was the first person to put a gun to my head. Today, she’ll tell you that there was no good reason for that. Raising a black son as a single mother, because her husband was not an adequate man, caused her to live in fear for her boy. That fear moved her to try to keep control of him in any way she could - to keep him out of trouble. Coming from a Jim Crow perspective on how to control black boys and men, violence was her go-to approach. So, I learned that violence is a ready solution.
My journey
I had just enough intelligence to be creatively destructive, just enough physicality to be a good athlete, and enough good looks to facilitate my lust for pleasure. That combination would lead me to prison mostly for violent crimes… including murder. But I didn’t start that way. Although I was born legally blind, I think it worked to my advantage in terms of memory. For the first seven years of my life, I had no idea I couldn’t see just as well as anybody else. No one had told me that I was blind, so I had no personal conception of it. My memory had to work overtime to compensate for my poor eyesight. This was helpful where academics were concerned. However, the turmoil that I was experiencing while living with my parents (my mother remarried) was misshaping my character and would come to motivate my future crimes.
My stepfather was in the military. So, I spent a total of 5 years in Germany on 3 different deployments. The longest that I ever spent anywhere consecutively, however, was Fort Knox, Kentucky, from 1980 to 1984. That’s where I made my closest friends outside of prison. One of those was our class valedictorian and president, Charles Pierson. Charles and I are still friends today, in part because even then, as teenagers, he was operating with an outreach mindset to troubled kids. Charles would go on to be president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters and open the door for my connection with Mission Alive.
Beginning in 1992, I would spend twenty and a half consecutive years in prison. Most of that time would be spent trying to figure out what was wrong with me. How could I be “so gifted” (as was commonly told by many people who encountered me) and at the same time, fail so miserably? I turned to a god that I could understand: Psychology. I also set out to either prove religious people were crazy or find a real faith that was different from the many failed experiments with spirituality the world was offering. It made no sense to me that everyone had a God that said, “Go kill the inhabitants and take their stuff in my name”. Eventually, I realized I would have to study Greek and Hebrew along with their corresponding cultures to get proper context for the Bible. After all, I had a lot of questions.
The Jesus that I discovered would give me the answers to my questions. It wasn’t the Jesus that I grew up with in conventional churches. I had rejected that idea long ago, having seen the inefficacy of the faith of my people to change their quality of life. The Christianity that I learned as a child was a selfish, self-centered, sad, and lonely gospel that only had good news for the people who had climbed the religious hierarchies and the white people who lived “over the mountain ”(a term used in Birmingham to refer to the wealthy white suburbs), whose churches were giant temples of joy and comfort built on the wealth of their elite congregants.
The Jesus that I researched in the Bible and through other texts was not only the source of salvation but also had the keys to building healthy communities out of unhealthy people. This gospel was perfect for the environment that I was in. Knowing that I was gonna die in prison, I was committed to it. I set out to effect changes in my environment with this understanding. It worked miraculously. Through the discipleship that I had employed while I was in prison with men coming in who were going to get out for sure, I organically built a network of support for myself on the outside. Ultimately, that support used their influence to get me out of prison. I left on October 29, 2012, with $42 and a bus ticket.
Having been handed that difficulty upon release had no effect on my enthusiasm. I was free! And it didn’t matter how difficult things would be. I was free. Whatever problems I had were the problems that free people making progress have.
Because I had been convicted of a felony, I couldn’t get a job. So I started a lawn care service. I borrowed some money from the police officer that I had turned myself into 20 years earlier and bought some brand new lawn equipment, a truck, and an old trailer. I enrolled at The University of Alabama at Birmingham as a double major in psychology and African-American Studies. I stayed on the Dean’s list, the President’s list, and earned an academic scholarship. While that was grand, I still needed to borrow $55,000 from the government to pay for my education and to live on.
I built my credit score up and in two and a half years out of prison I bought my first brand-new car. Four and a half years out of prison, I bought my first house. I went on to build a small nonprofit organization with a mission statement to reduce violence, recidivism, and family dysfunction while building community. I pushed this “social enterprise/collective impact” model up until 2022, when our work was recognized. I was then given the opportunity to re-create that model and plant it in my hometown neighborhood of Ensley, Alabama, which just happened to have the highest number of homicides in Birmingham.
Between that time, I became a counselor at a men’s rehabilitation center; a violence reduction specialist, and a local influence among residents. Having the lived experience of a former violent criminal combined with being a native son who understands dysfunction from the inside and how to overcome it, puts me in a position to be uniquely qualified to serve vulnerable populations.
Renew Birmingham was born and proved for two solid years to be an agent in , connection and collaboration among residents being mobilized to get invested in reducing homicides in our service area and an inspiration for community cohesion. It is that connection and collaboration among residents that are being mobilized to invest in their own revitalization.
While researching similar models, I called my friend Charles to ask if he knew of anything similar to what I was doing. He suggested that I contact Tod Vogt of Mission Alive. Honestly, I did not expect a lot from that initial meeting. I still have a relative disdain for conventional church. Having just enough humility to put my preconceived notions about Tod aside, I was able to listen and determine that he was genuine. He struggles with the conventional church much as I do. The difference between him and others is that he was doing something about it – Mission Alive helps leaders start Innovative Faith Communities, which seems like a wonderful alternative to what we’re doing today. I’m ready to be a part of one….I think I already am.
Today, we’re on the verge of adding a housing component to this program. I believe we’re well on our way to making my hometown a destination community.
To learn more about Gerrel and Renew Birmingham, check out renewbham.org. Gerrel has also been interviewed a number of times.
His books are available on Amazon under the titles:
What an inspiring story! Thank you for your honesty and passion. I’ll be reading up on the links provided …