Middle America Wee Kirk Conference 2009
Jim was ordained in 1978 and has since served the church as a Campus Minister, an Associate Pastor, solo pastor, an organizing pastor for a New Church Development and is now the Designated Pastor for the First Presbyterian Church of Tomball.
Jim has led the music for MAWK before as well as one in Pennsylvania. He has served as a Spiritual Advisor for several Walk to Emmaus, Cursillo, and Kairos weekends in the Houston area as well as in the Dallas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. He has been a "Dad" at several Celebration Weekends in Texas and Oklahoma as well.
Jim describes himself as a musician trapped in a pastor's body. In addition to following his calling to be a pastor he loves to perform his own songs either solo or with his band, "The Altar'd Egos." In the late 70's, Jim released two albums with Star Song Records. While those albums are long out of production, Jim has produced eight CD's of recent live performances at local churches and a video produced at the Houston Improv.
Jim is a native Houstonian who received his B.A. from the University of Houston, and his Masters and Doctorate degrees from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Jim and his wife Anne have been married since 1976. Anne is an Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. They are the parents of two children, Andrew a recent graduate of the University of Houston and Abbey, a sophomore at Texas State in San Marcos, Texas.
Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul exhorts them to "not be drunk with wine; but to be filled with the Spirit, as you sing Psalm and Hymns and Spiritual Songs among yourselves, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord..." (Ephesians 5:18-19) What's the difference between a Psalm, a Hymn and a Spiritual Song? That he recommends three different types implies variety. In this seminar we will explore the differences and ways we can expand our musical buffet so even more folks can join in "making melody" to the Lord.
