Jim’s growing up years were spent mostly in Hamilton, Ontario, though there were the occasional family pilgrimages to Alberta, one lasting a whole year. The steel city, with its industrial employment and corresponding smog, provided quite adequately for the family of 8 as well as, later, for the 3 boys who each took their turn working at Dofasco.

It was very natural after high school for Jim to attend a country Bible college in Alberta, for that is where his parents had met and married. Though the school has never gained widespread recognition in academic circles, nevertheless it was the place where Jim learned the discipline of study and laid for himself all the foundations upon which he would subsequently build. Probably the most influential of these was Koine Greek. Through it his trajectory was changed from a career in math and science, subjects that occupied his attention in high school, to a career rising out of Classics. Latin and, especially, Greek captivated and has held his attention ever since.

The now forgotten requirement of grade 13 that existed in Jim’s high school days, as well as 4 years of Bible College, delayed for 5 years both his entry into and his completion of university studies. By the time he was finished his Master’s degree, he had had enough of full time school, and so began a two track career that would last for three decades. The academic track saw him continuing his studies to the completion of a Ph.D., and then teaching as an adjunct instructor at Tyndale Seminary.

The other track was that of pastoring in churches. Here he was able to teach week after week from Greek and Hebrew texts, as well as to observe much about life and leadership. He served in both rural and urban environments, starting new churches, surviving mergers, managing relocations and respective name changes, purchasing property, stepping out of a denomination, plotting major facility redevelopment, and finally, burning out completely.

From two parallel careers to no career, Jim suddenly found quiet. What better to do than to finish memorizing the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine, a project he had been working on, slowly but surely, for several years. Without any previous warning, he gradually began to realize two things. First, the Apocalypse, once you get to know it, really starts to function as a coherent piece of literature. It is not a Greek text completely impenetrable to those of sound mind. It is understandable and purposeful. Second, the things that the Apocalypse says are going to happen? They ARE happening, right under our own feet.

It might have taken a process of about 24 months for Jim to realize these things, but once he did, there was no turning back. Something MUST be done about it. People MUST know what is happening.

This explains The Patmos Project.