Jim’s professional training includes a Bachelor of Music degree from Oklahoma Baptist University and a Master of Sacred Music from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Before joining the Northminster staff, he served as ChoirMaster/Organist at the Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church and at the Rock Spring Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. He also served several New York City churches including Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church and the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn.
Outside church settings, he has been involved in music administration and management, choral and orchestral conducting, arranging, teaching, and working as a recording engineer in New York City. He also served as an administrator and teacher of educational technology at the Lovett School in Atlanta. Jim’s interests include computing, camping, pipe organ restoration and playing a variety of musical instruments. He currently plays French horn in the Atlanta Concert Band and bagpipes in the Atholl Highlanders Pipe & Drums band. A ham radio enthusiast, he has served as a communications volunteer during several national emergencies including the 9/11 crisis in NYC and hurricane Katrina.
