of Lynn, It took him ten years of off and on schooling to receive his Bachelor of Arts degree from Butler University. After graduation he worked for a short time as an orderly at a local hospital where he met his future wife, Marciline Baldwin. Jones’s strong dedication to the church soon led him to becoming a pastor at a Methodist church in Indianapolis. Jones vocalized his strong views favoring integration, throughout his sermons. These opinions made him a clear target for bigots. Jones endured harassment not only verbally but it went as far as having dead cats tossed into his church. Soon after these incidents Jones “decided that ‘there was no love ‘ in the Methodist Church”(Axthelm 55). This revolution sparked him to create his own church. To raise the funds enabling him to create a liberal minded place of worship he sold pet monkeys door to door for twenty nine dollars a piece. The taunting and torment Jones was faced with by bigots while raising funds only made him more determined to reach his goal. In 1956 his dream was born. The doors to the first People’s Temple on North Jersey Street in Indianapolis were opened. The temple was a textbook model of integration and liberalism. It offered a soup kitchen to feed anyone that was hungry regardless of race, creed, or culture. The temple staffed an employment desk offering assistance to those needing help finding a job. The nursing home of the Peoples Temple offered care to the sick and elderly. In 1961 Jones was appointed to the city’s Human Rights Commission. “As his mother’s dream had promised, Jones seemed to be making at least a dent in the wrongs of the world”(Axthelm 55).Jones had attained all he had wished for. He had his own temple practicing his beliefs and views, a loving family, and a devoted congregation. The devotion and loyalty of his congregation is where the true “power” Jim Jones had over peopl...
