Rev. Awood A. Jones has been the Senior Pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Salem since 2011.
As Senior Pastor, Rev. Jones oversees administration and management of the church, facilitates programs such as worship, study, and fellowship, refers families to shelters, legal resources, and educational programs, provides crisis response and counseling to church members, and intervenes in crisis situations to protect residents and others.
Rev. Jones is the certified Chaplin at Crisis Intervention Int’l LLC, and Lay Minister and President of Salem Ministerium. Previously, he was an Associate Minister at Union Baptist Temple in Bridgeton from 2003 to 2011.
Rev. Jones was a corrections officer at Bayside State Prison in Leesburg for 25 years. He retired from his position in 2009. He was also a member of the Air National Guard from 1980 to 1984.
Rev. Jones graduated from Philadelphia Bible University’s Seminary Program in 1998, became an ordained minister with Bethany Baptist Association, South Jersey in 2003, and continues to pursue his Master of Divinity degree.
He has been married to his wife Tonya for 39 years and they have one daughter and three sons.