5 /5 Latonya Mclaughlin: In March of 2004, Me and my children were relocated to Hinesville due to a traumatic event. We were in need of everything because we had to flee our home quickly. A friend told me to go to this church because they were loving and helpful people. So I did. Pastor Jackson was the senior pastor at the time.. from his office he heard me asking for help and he came and instructed the lady I was talking to, to get the men together to go to the storage and take out anything they had that would help us. The very next day a truck load of men from the church brought us a house full of nice furniture, food and vouchers to go get toiletries. That left a beautiful first impression on me.
Shortly after being in Hinesville, I met and married my husband who is a soldier and was stationed in Hinesville/ Ft Stewart in 2004. We started looking for a place to worship and was lead to Mt Zion. While we were there we were welcomed by the Pastor who remembered my name and my kids names, he asked how things were going and if we have everything we needed? Never had that ever happen to me in a church before. A lot of churches I’ve attended only cared about money. But Pastor Jackson cared about us.
They had so many amazing ministries for everyone. I started Praise dancing, my sons started Miming, and my girls were in the ministry that teaches young ladies about virtue. We were not only happy but spiritually fed the entire 5 years we were stationed there. First Lady Jackson is a beautiful soul. She was always available if you needed an ear. My husband was deployed to OIF III in Iraq (the scariest time in our lives) and while he and I were on the phone one night, the line went dead after I heard someone screaming “INCOMING!!!” I lost it. It was 2am when I called First Lady Jackson panicked and she just began to pray! It calmed me down and I was able to sit and talk to her until I fell asleep on the phone. The next morning she called to check on me and told the Lord told her all was well and I would hear from him soon. Two days later I got a quick email from my husband saying “I’m ok.. I’ll call you in a few days!” She kept in tuned with the Holy Spirit. She was always heavily involved with the women’s ministry and doing things like… breakfasts, hikes, sunrise prayers at the beach, Women’s conferences etc. My youngest daughter absolutely loved her. Eventually we PCS’d… it was a sad time for us. But we eventually found churches to attend at our new duty station but it was never like Mt Zion. We were still tithing at Mt Zion because we hadn’t joined a church. I remember calling First Lady Jackson and asking her where we should be giving our tithes and she sweetly said “You should be giving your tithes where your soul is being fed.” She didn’t try to keep us giving it to them… it was never about the money for them. I love love love that.
Fast forward to 2023 going into 2024, we’ve PCS’d to Ft Riley, KS and COVID made most churches get current on technology and most services are being streamed live and we’ve started attending Mt Zion via YouTube and Bishop Jackson and First Lady Jackson have retired and left the church in the hands of Pastor Christie Conyers and she is Amazing!!! She’s been faithful to God and Zion for all these years. I remember her from when we were stationed there. The church and the flock have been placed in great, capable, holy hands. She not only studies the word but has been a strong vessel being used by God to answer a lot of our questions that we have for our retirement, children, spiritual journey and purpose in our walk. She has preached confirming words many days. The spirit of GOD has never left this church, HE’s just using a new oracle to bring HIS word for HIS people and His presence transcends into my living room every Sunday when she’s delivering his word. I can’t wait to reconnect with them in person when we retire. It’ll be just like going home!
