Hi! I’m Pastor Jim Butler, your Virtual Pastor. Ordained a Southern Baptist in 1984, I have served as full-time Senior Pastor of three churches – Laveen Baptist, The Community Church of Buckeye, and Mission Bell United Methodist. At The Church at Litchfield Park in Arizona, I served as full-time Executive Pastor, before returning to bi-vocational Christian work. Pastor Jim’s education includes: Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry. Pastor Jim graduated from Grand Canyon University and Southwestern Baptist Seminary, with further studies at The School of Theology at Claremont. Jim published a book of sermon of United Methodist Clergy, “Voices in the Desert Southwest Conference.”
Pastor Jim now serves as a Virtual Pastor, while working his day job as an insurance adjuster, holding insurance adjusting licenses across the United States, including New York, Florida, Texas and Arizona. Jim earned a Master of Business Administration and holds the certifications of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Senior Claim Law Associate (SCLA). He has published in Claims Journal: “Adopt a ‘Need to Know” Approach to Avoid Nuclear Verdicts.” Jim was the senior inventor of a U.S. Patent “Systems and Methods for Insurance Claims Settlements.”
Pastor Jim and his wife, Carol, live in Cottonwood, Arizona. After visiting some 20 churches in the Verde Valley, Pastor Jim created a Virtual Pastor blog as a way to share lessons learned from successes and failure of over 34 year of ministry. This ministry is not an attempt to replace the local church but to provide resources for those between churches, the alienated, the disengaged and the estranged. This will also give pastors creative ways to engage their congregations.
Let’s walk together!
Pastor Jim