James Warren `` Jim '' Jones ( May 13 , 1931 â `` November 18 , 1978 ) was an American preacher and religious leader . His church was called the `` People 's Temple '' . James Warren `` Jim '' Jones ( May 13 , 1931 â `` November 18 , 1978 ) was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple , which is best known for the November 18 , 1978 mass murder of more than 900 Temple members in Jonestown , Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip .