James’ mother and grandmother brought James up in the church. At age 12,
James was baptized into Christ. Five years later, I took a leave of absence
from God for almost 14 years. It was a miserable place to be! Because of
God’s mercy, He put me in the “pig pen” of life (Daniel 4 and Luke 15), which
helped me come back to the Lord! I sure am glad that God makes sin hurt!!!
After the pain of being away from my Father for so long, I decided to return to
the Lord. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude that the Lord would take me
back that I decided I wanted to teach others about God’s wonderful love. To
help me in that direction, I attended Sunset International Bible Institute in
Lubbock, Texas. While in Lubbock, I had the privilege of being the associate
minister at the Northside church of Christ. After my training, my family and I
returned to Michigan where I was a full-time minister for the Beulah church
of Christ in Beulah, Michigan, and the Center Road church of Christ in
Saginaw, Michigan. I then changed direction and worked for the Southern
Oaks church of Christ in Chickasha, Oklahoma, the Baker Heights church of
Christ in Abilene, Texas, and now with the Brown Street church of Christ in
Waxahachie, Texas, as their full-time evangelist (devoting more time to
evangelism).
Being a preacher and evangelist gave me a better view of both the church
and the world. The one need I saw more than anything is for the church to
do better in the area of evangelism (reaching the lost)! Therefore, over the
last 21 years, I have dedicated my life to creating an easy-to-use workbook on
evangelism – “Saving Souls In The 21 st Century”. Its purpose is to help
Christians be better equipped in the 21st century to reach the lost for Jesus.
The workbook is translated in Aramaic, Armenian, Dutch, Polish, Cambodian,
Egyptian, Spanish and English.
I have held over 100 evangelism workshops all over the world, trying to better
equip Christians in the area of evangelism. I also have joined the
HomeMission team and will begin, Lord Willing, teaching at their school of
evangelism in Fort Worth, Texas in August 2022. All to God’s glory and the
furthering of His Kingdom!
I have been richly blessed with my wonderful wife and best friend, Amy; five
beautiful children: Jessica Kimberly, Jill, Jessica LeAnne, Emily, and Zach; five
lovely grandchildren: Roxy, Riley, Myra, Clara, and Jericho; two great son-in-
law’s: Phillip and Brian.