All because two people fell in love

The name Theodore can be traced back to the Greek name Theodōros. The name comes from the word ‘Theos’ meaning ‘God’ and ‘dōron’ meaning ‘gift’. The name Theodore means ‘god-given’. The surname Jones means ‘Jehovah has favored’. It is no surprise that a person with such a name would become an ordained minister.

Senior Theodore Jones, more colloquially known as TJ Jones, recently became ordained in order to officiate a wedding for a couple of his friends. The idea originated from a couple at his work who needed someone to marry them.

“So I have two friends, Jacob and Sabrina, they’re a great couple, and I was there when they met,” Jones said. “She told me that if I got ordained, she would let me marry them. They actually wanted me to do it beforehand.”

Having seen them meet and watch their relationship progress, Jones is a smart choice to marry them.

“I’m employed at an aquatic facility known as the YMCA and I was teaching a swim lesson,” Jones said. “Jacob was the head lifeguard and Sabrina, it was her first day and he was giving her a tour. They started hanging out. We went to parties together. They met in, I wanna say, April.”

The process is pretty simple. All one needs to do is to go to the American Marriage Ministries’ website (theamm.org) that is based in Seattle, Washington. Then you have to agree to holding the sanctity of marriage, input your information, and pay the fee to get emailed the minister licensing.

To Jones, the hardest part was when and where he had applied for ordination.

“I did this during Ms. Houghton’s office hours, she was not happy, well, she was happy, but she felt there was other things I could’ve been doing,” Jones said. “So I had to work around that and, you know, $10 is a lot, so that was interesting.”

Although he was given the idea by Jacob and Sabrina, Jones was going to first marry Tanner and Lucy, who met in a similar fashion to the first couple. It was confirmed that Jones will marry them at the end of April. With a fast approaching date, Jones is feeling both nervous and excited.

“Very excited, I’m a little nervous. I got to write down what I’m going to say and then memorize it,” Jones said. “I know them pretty well but I don’t know if I’m allowed to make jokes or if they just want it to be straightforward. I’m nervous but I’m working on my script. There’s a generic version, but I’m gonna spice it up.”

Marriage is a very beautiful thing, and to be a part of that would be amazing. Plus, you can make a little cash ordaining a wedding.