James Thornber

I am the pastor of Journey Church in Independence, Kansas. In 1984, I graduated from Bethany Bible College in Scotts Valley, California with a Bachelor of Science degree in Ministry. In 2007, I obtained a Master of Ministry degree in Leadership from the Graduate School at Southwestern Christian University in Bethany, Oklahoma. My first book, Taking Off My Comfortable Clothes, tells my story of joining a monastic community in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where for four years I was a monk with The Brothers and Sisters of Charity at The Little Portion Hermitage, while still maintaining my credentials with the Assemblies of God.

In 1994 I married my best friend Barbara, and transferred my credentials to the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. On September 12, 2020, my wife and soulmate died of complications from COVID-19. In my second book, Better with Every Breath: The Journey from Loss to Living Again, I share how I chose gratitude to God as a response to Barbara’s death.