By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor
[img_assist|nid=6018|title=John Ed Jelks with Jeff Woodrich at Jelks retirement celebration and Baptist Builders Appreciation Dinner|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67]LIVONIA – The John Ed Jelks Fund is to be established this year at the Louisiana Baptist Foundation as a Donor Advisor Fund to provide financial support for Mission Service Corps missionaries serving as construction project coordinators with the Louisiana Baptist Mission Builders.
MSC missionaries are self-funded people commissioned by their local church, endorsed by the North American Mission Board and assigned by a local church, association or state convention to a missionary assignment.
“Self-funded” means they serve without salary. The income of MSC missionaries comes from family, friends, retirement income or other sources. They are counted among NAMB’s 5,000 missionaries serving across the United States because NAMB provides training and funnels the money given by others so the donor is able to claim a tax deduction, among other non-monetary support.
“We’ve been working on this for six months,” said Jeff Woodrich, who serves as the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s Mission Builder Director. “We’re looking for a base of a half-million dollars.” Donations will be made to the Louisiana Baptist Foundation, designating the gift for the Jelks Fund. An ID number will be made available once it is established.
Distribution of the interest accumulated in the fund is to be made on an annual basis, Woodrich said.
Jelks, who retired in January after 30 years as founding director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention Mission Builders, is to be one of the advisory board members.
The announcement of the fund was made at the annual Louisiana Baptist Builders Appreciation Dinner which this year included a retirement celebration Jan. 21 for Jelks at Not Your Mama’s Restaurant in Livonia. About 60 people participated. The event included a roast of Jelks, presentation of substantial gifts, sharing of the Lord’s Supper, and a message on The Call of Abraham – and Ed Jelks – by Freddie Arnold of Eastern Louisiana Baptist Association, which concluded with the singing – and hand/body motions – of the children’s song about Father Abraham and his many sons.
At the roast, Randy Creamer, National Baptist Builders coordinator with the North American Mission Board, told of a trip he was guided on by Jelks.
After by chance coming across an albino alligator in their travels across southern Louisiana, Ed Jelks pointed out another rarity to landlubber Creamer: albino buzzards.
Jelks’ straight-faced teasing about what others might call seagulls – and other jokes and remembrances over the antics, skill and wisdom displayed throughout his ministry – were returned to him with relish during the roast.
“Ed taught me through the years to persevere.”
“Ed taught me you got to be bold.”
“Ed would say, ‘Tear it out and do it again.’”
“Ed never told us about the mud” that covered a 400-foot-long driveway.
“You never dream how you’re going to affect people,” said a visibly moved Jelks when it was his turn to speak. “It just amazes me how God will use you if you just let Him.
“It makes you feel good to know you’re part of what God is doing,” Jelks added.
The evening, which also was the annual gathering of the construction coordinators and volunteers with the Baptist Builders, was a light-hearted event to honor the man who led the group to be involved with the construction of nearly 300 churches over the last 30 years.
Read more about Jelks in an upcoming issue of the Louisiana Baptist Message.
“We want to thank you for being a light,” said Woodrich, who was mentored by Jelks. “You will never know how many people you led to the Lord.”