James Lee West graduated from Del City High School in 1964. He is the eldest son of Audie Lee and Margarette West. His mother still resides in Del City. He was active in the music department playing the piano and singing in the Choral Department. Following graduation on June 4, 1964 he married his high school sweetheart, a 1963 graduate of DCHS, LaVina Dale Andrew West. Together they graduated from Southern Nazarene University (formerly Bethany Nazarene College). His Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree is in Church Music with a minor in Religion. During college Jim worked at Jenkins Music in Downtown Oklahoma City. His last two years of college he was the head of the Sheet Music Department. He served also during this time as the Choir Director and organist of Covenant Presbyterian Church in the Village. Following graduation in 1968 they moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he worked toward his Masters degree at Nazarene Theological Seminary. He graduated in 1972 with his Master of Divinity (M.Div.). During this time in Kansas City he worked as a church musician and worked in the credit card division of Mobil Oil Corporation. Two of the couples daughters were born in Kansas City, Jamie and Julie



Following graduation from Seminary the Wests moved to Leavenworth, Washington, the Bavarian Village, where he pastored the Church of the Nazarene there for 10 ½ years. Their youngest daughter, Joy, was born during this time. In 1982 he moved to Bellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle and served there for 5 years. In 1984 Jim completed his doctorate at San Francisco Theological Seminary, part of the Graduate Theological Union, on the campus of University of California at Berkeley. He graduated in May 1984 with a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) His dissertation is in the field of Christian Education. He completed this degree while in the pastorate in Bellevue, Washington.



In 1987 they accepted a call to minister in Alaska and served in Juneau and Anchorage. Both of these assignments were very diverse. The Juneau church included a lot of Tlinghit Indians. The church in Anchorage had a significant military presence. In his Juneau Pastorate, he was also elected to serve as the Chaplain of the House of Representatives at the State Capitol. He performed this duty for about four years when the house was in session. During his pastorates in Washington and Alaska, Dr. West was active in the Rotary Club International, especially working in the Student Exchange program. He served as the president of the Leavenworth Rotary Club and the Student Exchange officer for the Overlake Club in Bellevue, Washington and the Mendenhall Valley Club in Juneau, Alaska.



While serving in Leavenworth, Washington, Dr. West founded the Upper Valley Christian School. This school is a full K-12th grade program. This year the school will celebrate 30 years since their founding. A special distinction is the school has had only one principal during this entire 30 years and is noted all over the Northwest for its’ outstanding scholarship.



Dr. West has been elected several times to Who’s Who in America and upon graduation from Nazarene Theological Seminary was named the outstanding graduate in the Practical areas of Ministry such as preaching, counseling, administration, etc. earning him a distinction upon graduation.



He has authored numerous articles published in several periodicals, notably the Herald of Holiness, and recently for the online Holiness Today. He is the author of the book “Complete in Him, to Complete the Task”, a missionary mobilization book. This book will soon be in its second printing. Another book is almost completed on spiritual gifts. His books are available through HGM or Amazon.com. He speaks in various settings, primarily for the advancement of the missions programs of local churches or his own organization, HGM. He is still an active musician playing the piano or keyboard for various church or HGM services.



In 1996 he was in on the founding of Heart of God Ministries, a ministry started by John W. Zumwalt who married his first daughter Jamie. He serves as the President and Executive Director of this international ministry, headquartered in Oklahoma City. Their ministry now has representatives in various parts of the world. The work trains and deploys Christian missionaries into the most unreached world areas for the church. Though he is still an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, Heart of God Ministries is an interdenominational ministry. He administers the development and growth of Heart of God Ministries and teaches classes in the missionary training institute, Beautiful Feet Boot Camp. It is a five (5) month long residential training program based at their headquarters property in Oklahoma City on Hiwassee Road. They also have other training programs in other locations that he helps oversee.



Jim and LaVina have three daughters, Jamie, Julie and Joy. They are all married and along with their husbands are also employed in missionary service. They have a total of seventeen (17) grandchildren. Jim and LaVina like to garden and golf and amazingly Jim still drives her around in the yellow and white Nash Metropolitan, ,just like the one in which he courted LaVina back in 1964. He also drove the Met to old DCHS, you may remember.