Rev. Dr. Richard Wise Jones, dynamic, humble leader

If you were an officer of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, in Burlington, N.J., you felt obliged to adopt the humble, self-effacing attitude of your pastor, the Rev. Dr. Richard Wise Jones.

"What I will remember most about him was his humility," said one of those church officers, Daily News columnist Elmer Smith.

"He wouldn't allow us to exalt him and he never allowed those of us who were officers of the church to exalt ourselves either."

However humble, Jones was a dynamic church leader who, during his nearly 49 years as pastor, oversaw enormous expansion, "both physically and spiritually," as the church put it.

But he wouldn't have wanted to hear how great were his accomplishments.

"He never saw himself as anything more than a servant of God," Smith said.

Richard Jones, who also served as a Burlington County sheriff's officer for 24 years, died Friday at age 85.

When he arrived at Tabernacle in 1961, the congregation had 100 members. Under his leadership, it swelled to more than 2,000.

He oversaw four major construction projects, beginning in 1968, when the present church was built. In 1985, the educational wing was completed and named the R.W. Jones Family Life Center.

The library was dedicated in 1990. In November 1995, the church's 1,300-seat, $2 million sanctuary was completed.

In January 2001, Jones presided over the burning of the church's second mortgage.

In June 2008, Unity Hall, a 25,000-square-foot multimillion-dollar, multipurpose building connected to the church was dedicated. It includes a full-size gymnasium, performance stage, aerobics room with showers and lockers and a banquet facility seating more than 700.

Jones was born in Camden and educated in the Camden public-school system. He attended New Era Theological Institute, in Philadelphia; Temple University, and the Pastors Institute at Temple. He grew up in the New Mickle Baptist Church, in Camden.

He pastored Macedonia Baptist Church, in Cape May, for more than 14 years before going to Tabernacle Baptist.

While in Cape May, he met and married the former Ethel Brown, of Morton, Delaware County. She was a teacher in Cape May Courthouse.

On Oct. 7, 2001, Jones received a doctor of humane letters from Thomas Edison State College, in Trenton.

Ethel Jones said that while it is fine that people knew her husband for the buildings he built and other church-related accomplishments, "I want them to remember his smile, his goodness, and a very fine, upstanding pastor."

Burlington Mayor James Fazzone said, "When we sit back and look at the works of the Rev. Dr. Richard Jones, the word 'miracle' certainly comes to mind."

Besides his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Leslie R. Williams and Jennifer Early, and two grandsons.

Services: 10 a.m. Saturday at the church, 150 E. Second St., Burlington. Friends may call at 1 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday. A musical tribute will be held at 7 p.m. Friday.