Pastor Jim Wiltbank

Pastor Jim Wiltbank was born in Nebraska and lived in New Jersey, Colorado and Texas while growing up.  He spent two years in Argentina while on a mission for the LDS Church, after which he graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Elementary Education. He then returned to his ancestral family’s home – Arizona, where he has lived ever since.  Before receiving the call to go into ordained ministry, he taught first, second and third graders for 14 years. 

​Jim and his wife Joannie met playing volleyball at church and got married March 19,1994. They have two sons – James who lives in New York and Eric who lives in Minnesota with his wife Jessica.

Jim received a Master of Divinity degree in theology from the Claremont School of Theology in June of 2001. Before coming to Desert Mission, he worked at Lakeview UMC in Sun City, First UMC of Phoenix, Epworth UMC, First Yuma UMC and St. Francis in Tucson. Jim was a founding member of the board of Arizona Justice for Our Neighbors (now Immigration Law and Justice Arizona) and The Inn of Southern Arizona, and has served on the boards of the Metropolitan Education Commission (8 years), and JobPath (4 years). One of Jim’s passions is a school that educates and trains children with disabilities in the jungles of eastern Peru called the Refugio de Esperanza (Refuge of Hope). He has led more than a dozen groups of workers there to assist Pastor Victor in their life-changing work.

In his free time, Jim enjoys running, reading, watching movies (and adding new ones to his amazing collection which now numbers over 5600!) and travelling with Joannie.