Welcome Pastor Jim

On January 19th, Pastor Jim will be joining Joyful Life Church as the new interim pastor.

Jim is a native Houstonian. He was baptized at Christ Presbyterian Church Houston as an infant.

He was ordained a deacon at 19 at St. Giles Presbyterian, Houston. He was ordained as a Minister of the Word and Sacraments at Westminster Presbyterian, Beaumont at 27. He has served in New Covenant for 36 of his 40 years in ordained pastoral ministry.

Jim graduated from Waltrip High School in Houston, the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Arts in 1973, and Austin Presbyterian Seminary with a Master of Divinity in 1977, and the Doctor of Ministry in 1996.

He and Anne were married in the Austin Seminary Chapel on August 21, 1976. They were blessed with two children, Andrew in 1983 and Abbey in 1989, both of whom are married and living in Houston. Anne just completed her 25th year on the faculty of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston where she is now a full professor and Assistant Dean.

In ministry, Pastor Gill has served as a Youth Director at First Presbyterian, Galveston, as a Campus Minister at Lamar University, an Associate Pastor at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Houston, a solo pastor at St. Andrew Presbyterian in San Antonio, and at John Knox Presbyterian in Houston, as a church planter at Peace Presbyterian in Pearland, a Designated Pastor at First Presbyterian Tomball, an Interim Pastor at Westminster Presbyterian in Odessa, Texas, and an Interim and Installed Pastor at Faith Presbyterian in Baytown, Texas. He served as a supervisor for 4 seminary interns.

In the Baytown community, he served as the President of the Bay Area Ministerial Alliance, is a member of the Baytown Rotary International, and served on the Board of the Baytown Area and Chambers County Long Term Recovery Team, dealing with recovery from Hurricane Harvey.

For the last 6 years he has written a weekly column for the Baytown Sun Newspaper called, “Faith Lift.” He is an active member of the Houston Songwriters Association and enjoys sharing his gift of music at various venues around the Houston area as well as at churches and for the Houston Interfaith Ministries Gathering Place-a ministry to families dealing with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers. He has even been known to take his guitar with him when he makes hospital visits.

Pastor Gill completed his service as the pastor of Faith Presbyterian in Baytown, TX as of December 31, 2018. On January 21st, 2019 he began serving as a part time interim pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Dickinson, Texas.