James Knaggs

Commissioner Jim Knaggs completed his appointment as the Territorial Commander for the USA Western Territory in December 2016, entering retirement.

He spent 2 years in the US military and then worked as a project coordinator in education for parenting, before training as a Salvation Army Officer. He was ordained and commissioned in 1976. In 1995 he completed a Master of Professional Studies in Urban Ministries, through Alliance Theological Seminary.

As an Officer of The Salvation Army (ordained minister), Jim has been appointed to a variety of roles over the last 40 years. Having led a number of Salvation Army corps (churches), he has also had appointments with responsibility for youth, evangelism and growth, recruitment, musical ministries, and field operations, both here in the US and in Australia.

Jim has written several books:

ONE DAY: A Dream for the Australian Southern Territory. Melbourne: SALVO Publishing. (2007);

ONE THING: Win The World For Jesus. Melbourne: SALVO Publishing (2008) co-written with Stephen Court;

ONE ARMY: Frontier Press Publishing (2010);

ONE FOR ALL: Frontier Press Publishing (2011) co-written with Stephen Court;

LEADING THE WAR: Salvation Army Officership as Vocational Extremism co-written with Stephen Court;

DRUG OF CHOICE: Papers on leveraging creativity in the salvation war: Boundless Books (2020) co-written with Stephen Court;

Married to Commissioner Carolyn Knaggs, their family includes three sons, two nephews and a niece. Jason and his wife Leslie are Salvation Army Officers, and the parents of Jacob, Lily and Jaden while Jonathan is married to Jacy and is working as the Social Media Director for The Salvation Army and the parents of Sarah, Hannah and Samantha. The Knaggs' youngest son, Joel, entered heaven when he was tragically taken from them at the age of three.

Michael, Stephen and Allison Honsberger joined the immediate family in May 2000 upon the ultimate promotion to glory of their parents who were Carolyn’s sister and brother in law. Michael, married to Katie, serves as an officer in the US Army. Stephen is married to Melina and they are the parents of Maggie and Mateo. Allison is employed by The Salvation Army in New Jersey. God has kept them all together by His grace in troublesome and triumphant times.

Jim is a visionary who continually desires to intelligently discern what God requires of him and, in Christ’s strength, to enthusiastically follow his plan for him. He and Carolyn passionately want to be used to bring people into God’s kingdom.