Randy James attended Olivet Nazarene College University in Kankakee, Illinois for two years and then married Mary Jane Barrett of Selma, Indiana, after which he then transferred to Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he graduated with a degree in Religion in 1977.
During his college years, Randy worked part-time as a Minister of Youth, first at the First Church of the Nazarene in Gallatin, Tennessee, then at Grace Church of the Nazarene in Nashville, Tennessee. Upon graduation from Trevecca in 1977 with a B.A. in Religion, Randy went to Louisville, Kentucky First Church of the Nazarene as a Minister of Music and Youth. Following fourteen months of service in Louisville, Randy pastored for two years in Chesterfield, Indiana and was ordained into the ministry of the Church of the Nazarene at Marion, Indiana in 1980. He then took his family on the road and served seven years in the field of itinerant evangelism in churches and camps throughout the United States. He has also spent over twenty-seven years pastoring Nazarene churches in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, and West Virginia. While pastoring in Florida, Randy received the M.A. in Religion (focus in Biblical Literature) from Trevecca Nazarene University, and while in Anderson, Indiana graduated with a Doctorate in Religious Studies (focus in Church Administration) from Trinity Theological Seminary.
During his years in the pastoral ministry, Randy has served on the Boards of Credentials, and of Ministerial Studies on the Northeastern Indiana, Tennessee, Southern Florida, and Indianapolis Districts. He served as camp board treasurer in Tennessee, help found a crisis pregnancy agency in Dickson, Tennessee, held the position of chairman of the Fort Lauderdale Zone Churches of the Nazarene for five years, was the chairman of the Anderson, Indiana Zone Churches of the Nazarene, and president of the community ministerial association in Oak Hill, West Virginia. He has served as a professor in the Nazarene Bible Institute for Pastoral Training in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and was presented with the denominational Distinguished Service Award by the Southern Florida District for his leadership in raising funds for his denomination’s missionary work and received the General Superintendent’s Church Growth Award. He was also the assistant director and professor in the Northeastern Indiana School of Ministry through the Church of the Nazarene.
Randy later answered the call from his denominational headquarters to serve as the Director of Spiritual Development, Chaplain, and Religion professor at Africa Nazarene University in Nairobi, Kenya. He held this position for one term and then returned to the United States to care for family needs and to pastoral service in Indiana.
He is the author of four published books, Unraveling the Revelation: Devotional Readings from the Apocalypse, written from an A-millennial Perspective, Authorhouse Publishing Co. 2010, and The Fifteen Flavors of Love: A New Look at an Old Word, and Reflections on Romans, A Daily Devotional Journey Via Three-Minute Meditations, published by Outskirts Press, 2013.