Ray Jones
The Presbyterian Lay Committee offers its thanks to God for the life and Christian witness of our colleague Ray Jones, who departed from this life into eternal life on February 29.
Ray was an amazing and wonderful person and a blessing to all who knew him.
His entire life reflected his love for his Lord and his family and his service to his country. Following college, he served six years active duty in the Air Force in Latin America and 15 years in the Kansas Air National Guard. He worked as area manager for the National Disaster Medical System, providing disaster preparedness for the areas of Kansas City and Wichita, Kansas. During his career, he was part of a federal team who were called upon to coordinate medical care for numerous serious disasters in the continental United States and territories.
He was a loving husband, father and grandfather, being survived by his wife, Kay, daughter Susan and her husband Mark Keene, and three grandchildren.
He was a linguist, who was fluent in Spanish and also spoke French, Italian, Portuguese and some Dutch and he read Arabic. He practiced his faith and kept his language skills sharp by reading through the Bible in various languages.
Ray and his wife Kay were both strong supporters of their church mission program, taking annual overseas mission trips, often to Latin America. He could be found frequently on social media, sending encouragement to those he had met through that outreach.
As a ruling elder at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Wichita and Colonial Presbyterian Church in Kansas City before that, he grieved at the loss of respect for the truth of Scripture and he readily embraced the decision at Eastminster to transfer its affiliation from the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
In 1998, he accepted a call from The Presbyterian Lay Committee to become a member of its national Board of Directors, a role in which he served with distinction ever since.
In March, 2005, Ray wrote the following prayer that was published in The Presbyterian Layman:
A prayer for God’s healing…
Heavenly Father, with open hearts we kneel to worship you, asking forgiveness for the things we do that are not pleasing to you. Forgive us our doubts and hurtful attitudes in these times of division in our world, our nation, and our denomination. Forgive us for mistrusting your power over the evil that plots against us in dark places of the world. Thank you for the infinite and healing love of your Son, Jesus Christ, that surrounds and encourages us. May your Holy Spirit strengthen and guide us to truly love one another as we work toward reconciliation and peace wherever it is needed. Grant us wisdom to lovingly speak your truth with grace. Turn our hearts and thoughts to you as we work toward healing within our denomination. We pray that as sisters and brothers we might be united again in sharing Jesus Christ throughout the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Rest in God’s loving hands, dear friend.
Read the obituary for Raymond (Ray) Jones.
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Ray was instrumental in helping begin our new presbytery in the EPC called Great Plains. He will be missed.