Dr. James Washington Appointed Executive Pastor

The Board of Directors of Living Hope Church appointed Dr. James Washington III as its first Executive Pastor. Pastor Washington has agreed to voluntarily assist Pastor Hamstra and the Board of Directors in the area of budgeting, marketing, strategic planning, and the like.   

Pastor Washington comes well prepared for this task. He received his Bachelors degree from Northwestern University in Evanston and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Newburgh (IN) Theological Seminary. In between those two stops he spent time in the Kellogg Graduate School of Management (Northwestern University), as well as McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He is currently enrolled in a PhD program with Newburgh.

Pastor Washington's was also prepared by experience. In recent years he has served wih the Bible League (Crete, IL) and as an Executive Pastor of a church with a five million dollar budget. He was raised in a Presbterian Church in Ohio and served as an Elder with the Pullman Presbyterian Church in Chicago. He founded a non-denominational ministry which provides weeky worship services to residents of four nursing homes in the south suburbs of Chicago. 

Pastor Washington fills his days as the Chief Professional Officer with South-Southwest Suburban United Way. He and his wife, Joan, live in Country Club Hills. They have two children: James IV is a senior engineering student at the University of Dayton (OH), and Amber is a freshman at Wheaton College (IL).