Return to:
Liberty University
Candy Jones
Currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in religion
Liberty University
For many people, pursuing a college education is a way to learn how to do something they’ve never done before. Aspiring accountants study the ins and outs of tracking every penny, while writers learn to craft each word into carefully laid out sentences and paragraphs. But for 62-year-old Candy Jones of Deer Park, Texas, education had a different role — instead of endeavoring to learn an entirely new skill, she is hoping to improve one she’s been using for 16 years: ministry. While Jones has almost two decades worth of experience of speaking and singing, it has been on nights and weekends. She now hopes to make her forays into a career.
Jones, pursuing her Bachelor of Science in religion at Liberty University Online, first experienced Christian ministry 20 years ago when her church’s music minister asked her to sing a solo for the congregation during a Sunday night service. The event had a profound impact on Jones. She began receiving invitations to sing at local community events and other churches and was soon performing on a regular basis. Before that, Jones’ only singing performance was a solo during a living Christmas tree presentation. Four years later, after singing for a Sunday morning worship service at Southern Baptist Church in Lake Palestine, Texas, Jones got her first experience at the pulpit when she was asked to share her testimony with the congregation.
“I ended up preaching the sermon, which is most unusual in Southern Baptist Church’s Sunday morning worship service,” Jones said. “When it was over, I could not believe I had spoken with no preparation of anything to say.” That’s where her journey began.
Similar to the breakout success she experienced with her singing, Jones soon found herself being asked to speak regularly for women’s groups, retreats, and conferences, before moving on to teach adult singles and women’s ministry classes at her church. Longing to improve on the knowledge she had already gained through experience, Jones knew her next step was to earn a bachelor’s degree. In January 2009, she reached out to Liberty because of its traditional Baptist foundation. “I wanted a deeper understanding, and more knowledge, of Scripture,” Jones said. “I had heard many times about [Liberty's] programs and called with some questions.”
Within a year, Jones was enrolled and taking classes. At first, the experience was daunting. Jones had been away from formal education for 44 years, and she wasn’t sure of what to expect. All she knew was that she wanted to learn as much as possible so she could further understand the Bible and in turn help communicate its message to others.
“By May, 2011, I had [completed] 48 hours and had a grade point average of 3.93. Not bad for a grandma,” Jones said. “Because I was studying the Bible in a college setting, it was [a] serious business to me to do the very best job I could.”
Jones’ education is already paying off. Now, after just a year and a half of courses, she has already delved into New and Old Testament surveys, studies on individual books of the Bible, and more advanced classes, such as hermeneutics — where she studied scripture with special attention to the time of when it was written — as well as the study of biblical theory and interpretation. For Jones, classes like these have not only helped her gain a better knowledge of the Bible and her religious heritage, they’ve also enriched her personal faith in God.
While Jones may have taken a more unconventional path to education, she believes her personal story can encourage others to pursue the education of their dreams. For those hoping to follow in her footsteps, she recommends that students be organized above all else, when it comes to class work.
“Look at your assignments ahead of time and plan your week accordingly,” Jones said. “Start research papers early and work on them throughout the course so that you do not have to try to conquer the world in the last week of the semester.”
