Shari and Jim both grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and first met at Centre College of Kentucky in 1979. In 1981 we married and moved to Atlanta to finish school – Shari getting a BSN at Emory University and Jim earning a Bachelors in Applied Math from Centre and Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech. In 1984 we moved to Palm Bay, Florida to work in the Aerospace Industry and joined an exciting, growing, missional church there – Covenant PCA. After joining the Session as a Ruling Elder in 1987, Jim left his engineering job in 1989 to work on church staff and attend Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, graduating in 1992. We have been married over 40 years, with 5 children and 13 grandchildren.

Jim served in the PCA as a church planter and pastor for 20 years along with serving as a church planting assessor, coach, and network leader before joining the staff of ELI in 2012. The transition from pastoral ministry to ELI was an answer to prayer as we looked for a way to intensify our efforts to train leaders beyond the local church.