ACA Elementary Students Join James Bonner, Bojangles Man

Passing through Five Points where Tuscaloosa meets Cottondale, a motorist might be met by a chorus of car horns as they pass the Bojangles.

There's no road rage or emergency in sight; only a lone man in a cowboy hat with a sign that says "Jesus Will Save You." James Bonner, the roadside evangelist in question, receives a honk, a wave, a point, and sometimes even a Bojangles sweet tea just for...standing there.

He sets up outside the popular fast-food chicken restaurant where Veterans Memorial Parkway intersects University Boulevard East for hours nearly every day – rain or shine, in the freezing cold or blazing summer heat – to wave his sign and point at passersby.

If you stop and talk to him, he'll be happy to trade pleasantries and share materials for his local church. Regardless of whether someone is a person of faith, Bonner will make the time to chat.

He tends to avoid media and fanfare, claiming "the Lord has never called him" to speak to journalists.

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He's often affectionately referred to as "Bojangles Jesus," serving as Tuscaloosa's very own quirky missionary. He's been asked many times before why he endures the elements just to spread the gospel when he can do that in a million more comfortable places, and his answer is simple: he just wants to.

While Bonner is typically a lone wolf on this crusade to lift the spirits of Tuscaloosa's commuters, he received quite a few extra hands Tuesday from local students looking to join the crusade.

About 30 fourth graders from American Christian Academy Elementary joined Bonner with their own "Shields of Faith," waving and pointing at ongoing drivers in signature "Bojangles Jesus" fashion. With a packed thoroughfare, commuters ate it up, reciprocating with raucous jubilance.

The sight was captured on video and shared on ACA Elementary's Facebook page Tuesday. It's already been shared more than 29,000 times.

Check out the video below. For more on American Christian Academy, visit their website here. If you want to learn more about James Bonner, well, you're just going to have to pay him a visit.

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