Jim Jones

=== Beginnings in Indianapolis ===
[[File:Jimjonesfirstchurch.jpg|thumb|Jones's first church in [[Indianapolis, Indiana]].|alt=A white building with blue trim sits at the corner of an intersection.]]

In early 1952, Jones announced to his wife and her family that he would become a Methodist minister, believing the church was ready to "put real socialism into practice."{{sfn|Guinn|2017|p=56}} Jones was surprised when a [[Methodism|Methodist]] [[District Superintendent (Methodism)|district superintendent]] helped him get a start in the church, even though he knew Jones to be a communist.<ref name="horrock" />{{sfn|Collins|2017|p=154}}

In the summer of 1952, Jones was hired as student pastor to the children at the Sommerset Southside Methodist Church,{{sfn|Guinn|2017|p=57}} where he launched a project to create a playground that would be open to children of all races.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=44}}{{sfn|Guinn|2017|p=59}} Jones continued to visit and speak at Pentecostal churches while serving as Methodist student pastor. In early 1954 Jones was dismissed from his position in the Methodist Church, ostensibly for stealing church funds,{{sfn|Guinn|2017|p=64}} though he later claimed he left the church because its leaders forbade him from [[racial integration|integrating]] blacks into his congregation.{{sfn|Wessinger|2000|p=32}}

Around this time in 1953, Jones visited a Pentecostal [[Latter Rain (post–World War II movement)|Latter Rain]] convention in [[Columbus, Indiana]], where a woman prophesied that Jones was a prophet with a great ministry.{{sfn|Collins|2017|p=154}} Jones was surprised by the endorsement, but gladly accepted the call to preach and rose to the podium to deliver a message to the crowd.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=46}} Pentecostalism was in the midst of the [[Healing Revival]] and Latter Rain movements during the 1950s.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=44}}{{sfn|Collins|2017|p=155}}

[[File:Peoples Temple logo.svg|thumb|upright|The logo of the Peoples Temple, founded by Jones.]]

Believing that the racially integrated and rapidly growing Latter Rain movement offered him a greater opportunity to become a preacher, Jones successfully convinced his wife to leave the Methodist church and join the Pentecostals.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=44}}{{sfn|Collins|2017|p=155}} In 1953, Jones began attending and preaching at the Laurel Street Tabernacle in Indianapolis, a Pentecostal [[Assemblies of God]] church. Jones held healing revivals there until 1955 and began to travel and speak at other churches in the Latter Rain movement. He was a guest speaker at a 1953 convention in [[Detroit]].{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=46}}

The Assemblies of God was strongly opposed to the Latter Rain movement. In 1955, they assigned a new pastor to the Laurel Street Tabernacle who enforced their denominational ban on healing revivals. This led Jones to leave and establish Wings of Healing, a new church that would later be renamed Peoples Temple. Jones's new church attracted only twenty members who had come with him from the Laurel Street Tabernacle and was not able to financially support his vision. At one point, he even sold pet monkeys to raise funds for his church.<ref>Lattin, Don. [https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/jonestown-25-years-later-how-spiritual-2548493.php "How spiritual journey ended in destruction."] ''San Francisco Chronicle''. November 18, 2003.</ref> Jones saw a need for publicity, and began seeking a way to popularize his ministry and recruit members.<ref name = "fgo"/>{{sfn|Chidester|2004|pp=5–6}}{{sfn|Collins|2017|p=155}}{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|pp=48–50}}