Jim was born and raised in the Carolinas, but expanded his horizons by marrying a lovely and adventurous lady from a suburb of New York City.  Before their marriage in 1979, Jim was educated at the University of North Carolina, where he became a devout Tar Heel basketball fan and the first graduate in an experimental creative arts program (with emphasis on writing).  He spent several years as an unemployed poet and barely employed musician, studying philosophy and metaphysics before meeting the Lord Jesus Christ, who truly became for him “wisdom from God, and righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).  Jim served as an assistant pastor at an independent charismatic church near Charlottesville, Virginia, for ten years before attending Reformed Theological  Seminary, where he graduated in 1990 with the Master of Divinity degree.  Jim and Karen have eleven children, one recently married and eight still in the home.  The youngest six are adopted, three from Ethiopia.  The Creeches have enjoyed pastoral ministry in Mississippi, Ohio, and Virginia, where Jim has served as ministries pastor, church planter, or senior pastor in five churches.  Jim’s greatest passion is for people to come into a thriving relationship of exuberant joy and love with Jesus, experienced in worship and study of the Scriptures.