Jim was ordained in 1970 and was a member of the Southern California-Arizona conference and then the Canada West conference. He served at Parkdale, Hamilton, ON (70-72), Hermon FMC in Los Angeles (72-84) and at the Calgary FMC (85-94) before moving back to California. He attended Lorne Park College and Roberts Wesleyan College. He was married for almost 53 years to Shirley and they had three children.