“You are giving too much due and credit to a human being who is like you. You make a God out of a man and you feel you have to do everything he says. I did the show to reduce the iconoclastic disposition that people have towards their leaders"
He is the leader of a 17,000 member church, a brother to musical icon Grace Jones and a close friend to many of the world’s famous and influential people but he is still as down to earth as they come.
We catch up with Bishop Noel Jones, senior pastor of the City of Refuge Church in Gardena, California arrived in South Africa last week to for a short visit to the Holy Ghost fire house in Mbombela for some enlightenment about the ‘Preachers of L.A’ reality show.
Dressed casually like someone who was just taking a walk to the mall, the Bishop cracks jokes as camera crew prepare their lenses and microphones are placed in front of him. You can tell this is something he has become accustomed to.
“I’ve always been an open kind of guy and I’ve never acted as if I’m an icon or I sit on a pedestal that I can’t slip off of,” he says about himself.
Mandell Frazier, Ron Gibson, Deitrick Haddon, Jay Haizlip and Noel Jones have come under fire since the launch of their reality show ‘Preachers of L.A’. Not only have their personal lives been placed under microscopes but their lifestyles and ‘worldly’ possessions have become the source of many debates.
“There is no monetary gain from the show, I’ve probably lost more money, than made money by doing it,” Bishop Noel says.
And when it comes to the ‘lavish’ and comfortable lifestyles the preachers live, Noel says he doesn’t see anything wrong with it.
“There aren’t many church people that don’t know how their Pastors live and what their Pastors have. There aren’t many church people who don’t like to see their Pastors in public doing well,” he says.
“We have so many pastors doing movies and appearing in the movies that they produce and sell. As long as the story is upbeat and uplifting and touches people's lives in a positive way. I don’t see where the exploitation is,” he adds.
Church leaders play very big roles in the lives of those they lead and many people end up viewing the leader as some sort of ‘God’ or 'Savior', something which the Bishop is totally against.
When asked about the likes of Pastor Lesego Daniel and the congregants he had convinced to eat grass, Bishop Noel simply has this to say: “It’s ridiculous!”
“This is one of the reasons I did the show, I did the show to reduce the iconoclastic disposition that people have towards their leaders. The iconoclasm is what causes people to follow these men and women in to the most bizarre and macabre things and circumstances.
“You are giving too much due and credit to a human being who is like you. You make a God out of a man and you feel you have to do everything he says.”
Noel says that he hopes the show will cause everybody to take a second look at pastors and preachers and that they will be more educated and start asking questions.
Preachers of L.A which is in its first season in SA will focus on a number of issues including the Bishop’s decision to remain a bachelor.
“Paul wasn’t married, Jesus wasn’t married and Paul in not being married was the greatest scriptural expositor of how married people ore to live. I have more than what Paul had because I have been married and divorced. I know both sides of the fence.
“Marriage should be natural, I’m not going to get married because of a TV show or because I’ve had a friend around for a long time and we have a lot in common.”
“When it comes to marriage, you have to decide who you are willing to lock out. When you choose who you lock into your life the commitment has to be of such where everybody else ‘dies’,” he says.
“You have to ask yourself if you want this to be your last relationship because you have to be ready for it to be the last when you go down the aisle and say I do’.
Preachers of L.A airs on DSTV channel Vuzu on Mondays at 20:30.
'Take a second look at pastors and preachers': Bishop Noel Jones
“You are giving too much due and credit to a human being who is like you. You make a God out of a man and you feel you have to do everything he says. I did the show to reduce the iconoclastic disposition that people have towards their leaders"
He is the leader of a 17,000 member church, a brother to musical icon Grace Jones and a close friend to many of the world’s famous and influential people but he is still as down to earth as they come.
We catch up with Bishop Noel Jones, senior pastor of the City of Refuge Church in Gardena, California arrived in South Africa last week to for a short visit to the Holy Ghost fire house in Mbombela for some enlightenment about the ‘Preachers of L.A’ reality show.
Dressed casually like someone who was just taking a walk to the mall, the Bishop cracks jokes as camera crew prepare their lenses and microphones are placed in front of him. You can tell this is something he has become accustomed to.
“I’ve always been an open kind of guy and I’ve never acted as if I’m an icon or I sit on a pedestal that I can’t slip off of,” he says about himself.
Mandell Frazier, Ron Gibson, Deitrick Haddon, Jay Haizlip and Noel Jones have come under fire since the launch of their reality show ‘Preachers of L.A’. Not only have their personal lives been placed under microscopes but their lifestyles and ‘worldly’ possessions have become the source of many debates.
“There is no monetary gain from the show, I’ve probably lost more money, than made money by doing it,” Bishop Noel says.
And when it comes to the ‘lavish’ and comfortable lifestyles the preachers live, Noel says he doesn’t see anything wrong with it.
“There aren’t many church people that don’t know how their Pastors live and what their Pastors have. There aren’t many church people who don’t like to see their Pastors in public doing well,” he says.
“We have so many pastors doing movies and appearing in the movies that they produce and sell. As long as the story is upbeat and uplifting and touches people's lives in a positive way. I don’t see where the exploitation is,” he adds.
Church leaders play very big roles in the lives of those they lead and many people end up viewing the leader as some sort of ‘God’ or 'Savior', something which the Bishop is totally against.
When asked about the likes of Pastor Lesego Daniel and the congregants he had convinced to eat grass, Bishop Noel simply has this to say: “It’s ridiculous!”
“This is one of the reasons I did the show, I did the show to reduce the iconoclastic disposition that people have towards their leaders. The iconoclasm is what causes people to follow these men and women in to the most bizarre and macabre things and circumstances.
“You are giving too much due and credit to a human being who is like you. You make a God out of a man and you feel you have to do everything he says.”
Noel says that he hopes the show will cause everybody to take a second look at pastors and preachers and that they will be more educated and start asking questions.
Preachers of L.A which is in its first season in SA will focus on a number of issues including the Bishop’s decision to remain a bachelor.
“Paul wasn’t married, Jesus wasn’t married and Paul in not being married was the greatest scriptural expositor of how married people ore to live. I have more than what Paul had because I have been married and divorced. I know both sides of the fence.
“Marriage should be natural, I’m not going to get married because of a TV show or because I’ve had a friend around for a long time and we have a lot in common.”
“When it comes to marriage, you have to decide who you are willing to lock out. When you choose who you lock into your life the commitment has to be of such where everybody else ‘dies’,” he says.
“You have to ask yourself if you want this to be your last relationship because you have to be ready for it to be the last when you go down the aisle and say I do’.
Preachers of L.A airs on DSTV channel Vuzu on Mondays at 20:30.