James C. Howell graduated from USC Department of Religious Studies in 1976, earned his M.Div. at Duke Divinity School in 1979, and received his PhD from Duke University (1984), studying Old Testament under Fr. Roland E. Murphy.

He served 12 years as Senior Pastor of Davidson United Methodist Church and has been an adjunct professor of Old Testament in the Masters of Christian Education program at Pfeiffer University and at Hood Theological Seminary. Dr. Howell is now Senior Pastor of the 4,000 member Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

He has published a number of books including: Yours are the Hands of Christ: the Practice of Faith (Upper Room, 1999); The Beautiful Work of Learning to Pray (Abingdon, 2003); and The Kiss of God: 27 Lessons on the Holy Spirit (Abingdon, 2004). He also has written numerous articles and has a monthly column in The Evangelist, an interracial Christian newspaper.

Dr.Howell has initiated several ministries including a free clinic and a program called "Hope Teams" which involves groups in caring for persons on the edge. He also has developed an educational-inspirational email network which reaches thousands of readers. He has been given the F. Parker Duncan Church Public Relations Award of Excellence (1997) and the Francis Asbury Award (1999) for work with college students.

James is a regular guest commentator for local TV and radio on politics and culture. He serves on a number of community organizations and volunteers with the public schools, with winter shelter, Crisis Assistance, and Urban Ministry Center. He also is a participating scholar in The Scripture Project, Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton.

Among his other interesting activities, he has played Captain von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" with the Davidson Community Players, and played John Wesley in "Journey to Aldersgate". If you google James, you are likely to bring up any number of his articles and columns, which have been posted on numerous websites.