On 12 September 2019 APNTS Officer in Charge Rev. Dr. Keith Killen announced that with the approval of the APNTS Board of Trustees that he has appointed Rev. Dr. Randall “Randy” Lee James, 65, recently retired pastor serving the Lord in Springfield, Ohio, as the Vice President of Institutional Advancement, United States effective immediately. Dr Killen indicates, “After learning of our needs for US based support, Randy agreed to come on board as a volunteer and received APNTS Board of Trustees approval and blessing on September 2nd. … We look forward to working with Randy and having him as a part of the APNTS team.
A minister in the Church of the Nazarene since 1977, Dr James has served the church as an evangelist, missionary, chaplain, professor and pastor. In addition to a stint as traveling evangelists, Randy and Mary Jane’s path has found them in pastoral ministry positions in Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, and for the last 5 years, he served the Lord as the Lead Pastor of the Oak Hill Church of the Nazarene, West Virginia, until their retirement on 30 May 2019. During his 42 years of effective ministry, Dr James served for 3 years as the Director of Spiritual Development, Chaplain and Lecturer at Africa Nazarene University in Nairobi, Kenya, from 2007 before accepting a call to pastor the First Church of the Nazarene in North Vernon, Indiana, in October 2009, where he served until May 2014. At their retirement reception, Mary Jane said: “This isn’t an end – just a new beginning. We get to see our two children carry on working for our Lord – and we’ll be doing the same, just in different ways.” Subsequently, In July and August 2019 Dr James taught “Christian Communities of Practice” to both Doctoral and Masters students at APNTS as an adjunct professor and will continue to teach at APNTS after this appointment.
Born 15 August 1954 in Middletown, Indiana, Randy he attended Shenandoah High School, and lettered in both track and cross-country running. After graduating in 1972, he attended Olivet Nazarene University, but later transferred to Trevecca Nazarene University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Religion degree in 1977. In 1973, Randy met elementary school teacher Mary Jane Barrett, a Ball State University Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education grad. In a recent interview they revealed: “The feeling of knowing something was right resembles the feeling they got about each other back in 1973 when Randy was invited to play bass guitar for an Indiana gospel quartet in which Mary Jane was the lead singer.” They were married just over a year later on 27 July 1974 in Selma, Indiana. They have two adult children, Pastor Toni James, who has been Lead Pastor of the New Vision Church of the Nazarene in LaGrange, Indiana, since November 2016, after 11 years previously as an associate pastor in several churches; and Pastor Ricky Lee James, a Singer/Songwriter/Musician, who has served as Music & Worship Pastor at the First Church of the Nazarene in Springfield, Ohio since November 2001; and They have a grandson, Alexander. Recently Ricky Lee wrote: “Dad is not just a great father, and he’s not just another pretty face. He is also a great preacher, a teacher, a basketball referee, a guitar picker, a bass player, [and] a golfer”.
After Master of Ministry studies at Huntingdon University in Indiana, Randy graduated from Trevecca Nazarene University with a Master of Arts in Biblical Literature in 1997. Randy earned a Doctor of Religious Studies in Church Administration from Trinity Theological Seminary in Evansville, Indiana in 2006. Dr James will soon complete a Master of Divinity program in Pastoral Ministries with Union University in California that he began in 2014. Mary Jane has a Master of Arts degree in Education, and has lectured at Africa Nazarene University, and taught elementary school in four states and is a certified counselor.
Dr James is the author of “Unraveling the Revelation: Devotional Readings from the Apocalypse, written from an A-millennial perspective” (2010) and “The Fifteen Flavors of Love: A New Look at an Old Word” (2013).
Dr Killen indicated that Dr James will serve alongside Yoon, Moon Ji, who serves in a similar role in the Republic of Korea.
Since retirement Dr James has also begun a church consultant project called S.T.A.M.P. (Second Time Around Ministry Professional), “which offers services free of charge to local churches in the areas of pulpit supply/interim pastor, revival preaching, pastoral counseling, conflict management, teacher training, church administration, team building, and financial planning.”
Submitted by Rev. Steve Walsh 12 September 2019
