JIM MURPHY
PASTOR, TEACHER, LEADER
Jim’s mission is leading people to a better future in Christ. He’s a strategic thinker, developer, and achiever with the heart of a pastor, a love for families and the next generation, and the mind of a ministry engineer.
After initially exploring aerospace engineering, Jim experienced his call to ministry when he was 18 years old in 1991. He’s been in vocational ministry since the spring of 1992 when he started out part-time with Youth for Christ while going to community college. He went on to attend Oak Hills Christian College where he got married, served as the Middle School Youth Ministry Assistant for three years at the Covenant Church, and graduated with a B.A. in Biblical Studies in 1996.
He then earned a Master of Divinity from Bethel Seminary, St. Paul, MN in 2000 while serving as the Associate Pastor of Youth and Worship Ministries at Immanuel Church in Forest Lake, MN. After nine years there, he transitioned in 2006 back to the Covenant Church in Northern Minnesota and focused on youth ministry for eight years, became Ordained to Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Covenant Church, then transitioned to an Associate Pastor and led their NextGen staff and ministries (kids, students, and young adults) and New Connections (First Impressions and Guest Assimilation) for four more years until 2018.
While in transition between churches, he helped lead the development of a resource initiative for the national offices of Evangelical Covenant Church to help churches engage in conversations around matters related to people who are LGBT+. This initiative is called “Embrace.”
For two years, Jim and his family lived in Phoenix, AZ where he served for a short time as the Family Ministries Pastor at Mountain Park Church, overseeing ministries to kids, students, young adults, and parents and enjoyed exploring the beautiful state of Arizona.
Currently, Jim has been serving as the Lead Pastor at First Covenant, a smaller church in Red Wing, MN, since January of 2021. He hopes to return to blogging about his experience in ministry soon.
TEACHING PROJECTS JIM IS WORKING ON
The Faith MapTM is a guide for your spiritual journey through four destinations: Belonging, Pursuing, Practicing, and Contributing.
The Grace WheelTM is a guide for understanding the Atonement and what Jesus did on the cross. It explains the images of God’s grace—Justification, Redemption, Salvation, Adoption, Regeneration—and the core work of Reconciliation to God. The Grace Wheel is also a very helpful tool for sharing your faith with others as you learn to turn the Gospel DialTM to meet people where they are in their journey.