Jim is a second-career pastor who attended Duke Divinity School. He describes his life prior to his call as that of a “comfortable, post-Biblical Christian,” who believed that scientific knowledge and his degrees had put him above and beyond the Bible.  "What happened," Jim explains, "is that a living God entered my life and showed me how little I knew!"

In his first career, Jim was a social scientist trained in foreign policy and government. He taught at Yale University and the University of Texas, was a Fellow in the International Securities Program at The Smithsonian, was a consultant on a television documentary (“Vietnam: A Television History”), served as a Special Assistant to Mark White, Governor of Texas, and worked as an independent consultant and ghost writer.  

Jim's spiritual awakening happened in 1995, he was called to the ministry in 2002 and attended Duke 2003-2006.  Jim has been happily married to Shelley Williams Austin for 22 years and has two sons, John, 15, and Will, 12.

Click here to go to Jim Austin's Vita