Hi, I am Pastor Jim Denton. I am passionate about growing closer to God, more Christ-like and for journeying with others along the way of following Jesus. I embrace John Wesley understanding of salvation as life restored to love of God and love of neighbor, particularly valuing his conviction that the things that we do form who we are. This is the method (I am a Method-ist!) for spiritual growth. You could say that we practice our Christianity until we get it right!
I don't believe that we can be truly spiritual apart from a community that supports us, encourages us, holds us accountable, and in which we can practice our spirituality (and find grace for our missteps). However, we also cannot be truly spiritual unless we are fully engaged with the wider world outside the church, not to make the world fit our demands, but to be involved with the world, loving it as God loves it and living in it as witnesses to the transforming power of God’s love. Acts 2:42-47 describes such a community as being formed by worship, study, mission, justice, fellowship, praise, and joy.
I am 61 years old, and live in Winfield, IN with my wife, Pastor Sheri Locascio who serves Trinity and Michigan Avenue United Methodist Churches in Hobart. We have one adult son, Jay, who lives in Crown Point.
A native of Sauk Village, IL, I practiced pharmacy for over 25 years before answering the call to pastoral ministry. After graduating from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2015, I have served churches in Demotte, South Bend, and Hanna, IN before coming to Hammond First
United Methodist Church.
