Jim Palmer

Jim Palmer's widely acclaimed first book, Divine Nobodies, earned him widespread recognition as one of the next great spiritual writers. Jim has a passion for finding relevant, authentic ways of dialoging and building community around a relationship with Christ. His journey has included such opportunities as two years of pastoral ministry at Willow Creek Community Church and the starting of an emerging church in Nashville. His newly released second book, Wide Open Spaces, strikes to the heart and calls readers to consider whether their neatly preconceived ideas of God haven’t prevented them from experiencing the inspiring depths of God himself. Jim offers guidance as a pastor, speaker and writer to people seeking to know God in deeper and more expansive ways.

Prior to Jim’s ministry positions, his path crossed many terrains. Jim grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia and is a survivor of a troubled childhood and discovered a relationship with Jesus Christ as a senior in high school. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communications from East Tennessee State University, and his Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. It was at this time that Jim became a part of the staff at Willow Creek and then moved to Nashville two years later to plant a church in that area.

Jim left pastoral ministry to devote himself to working with abused and abandoned children. He served as Executive Director of Y-CAP, a non-profit organization providing comprehensive intervention programs for at-risk children and their families. He also served as the U.S. Director of Education for International Justice Mission, a Christian human rights organization based out of Washington, D.C. Based on these encounters, Jim presented as a writer and speaker to church and university audiences around the U.S. the need for Christians to become aware and involved in bringing rescue to victims of oppression throughout the world.

Jim is the founder of the Pilgrimage Project, an initiative encouraging the freedom to imagine, dialogue, live and express new possibilities for being an authentic Christian. Jim lives in Nashville with his wife Pam and daughter, Jessica