Thomas Miles Jolly was born on September 9, 1910 in Carbondale, IL to Henry and Della Jolly.  He had one brother, Lowell and four sisters, Marie, Mertie, Rose and Mary.  
Shortly after Thomas' birth, the family moved to a farm near Cobden, IL which is approximately five miles from Anna, IL.
Thomas' mother Della was a faithful Bible reader, prayed everyday and felt very deeply about the salvation of her household. 
She was preparing to enroll the children in Sunday School at the Limestone Baptist Church when they were visited one day by a young man named Ford Johnson.  He lived just down the hill on another farm.  Bro. Johnson had recently received the gift of the Holy Ghost and had become acquainted with the Holy Ghost people in Anna.  Bro. Johnson invited the Jolly family to go to church with him in Anna.  This was young Thomas' first introduction to the Pentecostal message.   In 1912 Bro. Wm. Sowders had received the Holy Ghost at Olmstead, IL.  Bro. Sowders and other ministers began evangelizing various towns in Southern Illinois. In 1916 Bro. Sowders went to Anna, IL and held services in a little mission on Railroad Street formerly known as the "Potato House".  This is where the Pentecostal movement started in Anna as far as Bro. Sowders and this body of people is concerned.   Thomas' father, Henry, was employed by the Illinois Central Railroad Company. He rented a large house for $12.00 a month in Anna and put up extra beds
to keep ministers when they came there to be with Bro. Sowders.  This is how young Thomas became acquainted with many
of the preachers and experienced the power of God.

Bro. Jolly said: "I can well remember, sitting in meetings, both in prayer meetings and in the little mission also when the power of God would be falling and people would be rejoicing and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.  When the ministers would preach I can still remember how my heart would respond to it. 
I just seemed to fit in and understand that it was right and there was nothing unusual about feeling the power of God.  Tears would come to my eyes and I would feel the presence of the Lord all around me.  Then my mind would become active and it seemed as though the Lord charged it with wisdom and knowledge to know what was going on in the church."  

Bro. Sowders later moved from the mission to a big two story house called the
"old academy".  It had been used as a college and was a beautiful old building with fine woodwork.  On the first floor was two large rooms divided by a big sliding door. 
Bro. Sowders took out the door making one large room.  He carpeted the room, put seats in and built a little platform. Bro. Sowders lived in three or four rooms on the first floor located in the back of the building.  The Jolly family lived in the upstairs apartment which had six or seven rooms.  Young Thomas played the drums in the church.  This is where he met many preachers, including Bro. George Aubrey, 
who came to visit Bro. Sowders.  The first preachers meeting held in this body
was at Anna, IL in 1919. 
Bro. Sowders left Anna and went to help the Pentecostal people in Evansville, Indiana.  After Bro. Sowders left Anna, the Jolly family moved to West Frankfort, Illinois for Thomas' dad, Henry, to work in the coal mines.  Later they moved to Granite City, Illinois where Henry found work at the steel foundry. 
The Jolly family attended church in Granite City where Bro. Ralph Cook was the pastor.  Bro. Wm. Sowders, Bro. Reva Mears and other ministers visited there. In November of 1931,
Bro. Frank Peach, from Mt Carmel, IL went to Granite City and held a revival for Bro. Cook.  During the revival approximately 200 people received the Holy Ghost. 
 It was during this revival that young Thomas,
21 yrs old went to the altar and was converted.  
On February 8, 1932, he went to a meeting in
Mt. Carmel, IL and received the Holy Ghost. 
Bro. Jolly said: "While I was praying the Lord kept asking... Tom Jolly, would you be willing to die any prescribed death
for preaching the gospel?  
As I looked up, there was a cloud hanging right over my head.  I looked right into it and said,
'God, by your grace, I will.' 
When I said this, I saw Jesus and began to
speak with other tongues."  
Bro. Jolly began visiting the churches in the body and then moved to Louisville, KY to live with Bro. Wm. Sowders.   
He would drive Bro. Sowders back and forth from Louisville to Evansville.  Bro. Sowders pastored both assemblies. 
After one of those trips they arrived in Louisville very late one night.  Bro. Jolly said: "I was awakened by Bro. Sowders preparing breakfast for us. I talked with him while he prepared breakfast.  When we sat down to eat he looked across the table at me. I could see tears in his eyes and the presence of the Lord filled the room so great I broke up and began crying.  
While we were just sitting there looking at each other and crying, the Lord was talking to Bro Sowders.
Later Bro. Sowders told me: "The Lord told me, remember back in Anna, IL when people turned against you?  Mother and Daddy Jolly stood by your side and helped to furnish finance for your welfare.  They kept you and Bertha in their home.  They fed you and helped to take care of you while you were in Anna.  You see Tommy sitting over there?  He is a reward for what his parents did for you and I am going to make a great minister out of
Bro. Tommy." The Spirit of the Lord kept filling the room greater and greater until we both began to speak in tongues. We raised our hands and praised the Lord. A milky white substance filled the room.  I couldn't see the kitchen cabinets, stove, refrigerator or furniture in the room because of the substance.  We were both shaking under the power of God and the Spirit of the Lord was anointing us.  Bro. Sowders, being older in the ministry and with more experience, explained this experience to me.  He said: 
"Bro. Tommy, look up!   The Lord has great things for you. The Lord is going to use you mightily in the work of the Lord." We both praised the Lord."
Bro. Jolly stayed in Louisville for about one year.  In 1933, he went to Martinsville, IN and conducted his first meeting.  He then visited
Bro. Garland in Paducah, KY, Bro. Osborne at Cairo, IL, Bro. Phelps at
Poplar Bluff, MO, and went to Olmstead, IL to be with Bro. Bob Shelton and Bro. George Aubrey. Bro. Jolly and Bro. Shelton visited fifty-two churches.  While visiting churches Bro. Jolly would serve in whatever capacity he could, including redecorating churches and working on saints' cars. 
In 1934, the Lord led Bro. Jolly to Eldorado, IL.  The little church there began with only five people and they had very little money, but the Lord was with them in a great way!  Between 1934 and 1964 the church grew from five to over five hundred people.  The Lord had told Bro. Jolly that
he would never lack for words, people or finance and he never did.  
Thirteen men received their training for the ministry in Eldorado.  

A few days after this experience, Bro. Sowders came to Bro. Jolly with a black notebook and a yellow piece of paper in his hands.  Bro. Sowders said: "I have in my hand a typewritten sheet of paper with the subject of 'Hell' outlined on it. I also have a notebook with fifty subjects that I have compiled over the past eighteen years.  I am going to let you copy this notebook.  Use it for your studies.  But, before I give it to you, I want to quote a scripture to you that Paul gave to Timothy, 'and the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.'  I am going to ask you not to give this notebook to just anyone, but you use your best judgment as to whom you should give it." 
Before Bro. Wm. Sowders passed away in 1952, he talked to Bro. Jolly about the churches in Evansville, IN and Anna, IL. 
He began leaving him in charge of camp meetings and fellowship meetings.  Bro. Sowders told Bro. Jolly that when he passed away Bro. Jolly would become the overseer of this body of people.  Bro. Sowders passed away in 1952 and Bro. Jolly conducted his funeral in Louisville, KY.

On March 21, 1952, Bro. Jolly became the pastor of the church in St. Louis, MO.  He would drive back and forth between the two churches he was pastoring, Eldorado and St. Louis.  In August of 1954, Bro. Jolly also became the pastor of the church in Indianapolis, IN.  Bro. Jolly began having Sunday School for the children and Youth Meetings. The first Youth Meeting was held in St. Louis in 1961.  There were over 500 young people in attendance during the four day meeting and 55 young people received the gift of the Holy Ghost.
In 1967, Bro. Jolly began pastoring the church on Dearing Avenue in Louisville, KY. 
Bro. Elmer Carter had been working with the people there for a number of years and continued working with Bro. Jolly. 
Through the 1970's and 1980's, Bro. Jolly continued overseeing many churches including, Eldorado, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Louisville.  
In 1981, Bro. Jolly directed the purchase of property for a convention center in Louisville, KY.  The sanctuary was designed to seat over 3300 people. 
Many wonderful meetings have been held there since that time.

In 1992, Bro Jolly helped to purchase another church in Caseyville, IL.          
He lived next door to the church there surrounded by his family and friends,  including Bro. John Hampsey Sr and Bro. Herb McCarty Sr.   
In June 1993, two men of God, Bro. Clyde Patton and
Bro. Alfred Daves visited Bro. Jolly and told him about a great ingathering that was taking place at the old campground that Bro. Wm. Sowders had built in the 1930's in Shepherdsville, KY. 
Herb McCarty Jr. was there and said that Bro. Patton asked Bro. Jolly to come to the September, 1993 campmeeting.  Bro. Patton said "Bro. Jolly, Bro. Daves and I will get on each side of you and take you straight to the platform.  If anyone doesn't like it, I will leave and never go back."  Bro. Daves said "Bro. Jolly if they don't want you, they don't want me either."  Bro. Jolly asked Herb if he would drive him to Shepherdsville if he was able to go. Bro. Jolly was very happy about the visit and later said:  
"The Lord is bringing many of his people back together again.
It sounds like something great is going on, on the hilltop again.
Go to Shepherdsville and don't miss out on what God is doing."   
Bro. Jolly passed away peacefully in his sleep on May 30, 1994.  His Bible was open where he had been reading before he retired. 
Many people were converted, baptized, filled with the Holy Ghost and received the word of God in great measure during his ministry.      

Here are some quotes from Bro.Jolly between November, 1991 and May, 1994.

"I did not do these things people are saying.  If God was sitting here with us right now, He would have to say, "Amen".

"I love the ministers, but if they knew the truth and how badly they have mishandled things, they would have to hang their heads in shame for the way they have treated me."

"How could people possibly believe these things after hearing my messages for all of these years?  I would never do these things.  How sad it is to think the saints and ministers could believe it.  It hurts so bad, it feels like I have a meat grinder in my stomach."

"I love the saints and miss them so much.  I would like to go to the convention center, talk to them and answer all of their questions, but the ministers will not let me."

"Since I got saved in 1931, I have not committed any sexually immoral sins."

"They drew a circle that put me out, a heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout.  But love and I had the wit to win.
We drew a circle that took them in."

"If you talk to someone that says I hurt their feelings in any way, please tell them I am very sorry 
​and ask them to please forgive me."

He had a lot more to say, but we wanted to share at least a few words with you.  He was so loving, kind and forgiving and he faithfully taught us the word of God until he passed away.
​