By Bob Campbell
The Rev. James J. Bolton stays plenty busy with his job as a professor and chairman of the department of pre-health sciences at Odessa College, but his devotion to the ministry goes back to his childhood and he feels that his work as pastor of St. James Missionary Baptist Church is a necessary part of his service to God and humanity.
Having preached his first sermon at age 14 in his hometown of Chicago, the Rev. Bolton said, “I preach about God’s love, God’s goodness and God’s blood.
“God loves you no matter what you are, what you look like or where you came from. His love surpasses anything bad you have ever done and his blood can save the worst of sinners. As a professor, I help the mind and as a preacher I help the soul.”
Bolton earned a bachelor’s degree at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, studied at the University of the Dominican Republic, did research at the University of California at Davis, took a master’s degree in genetics at the University of Alabama and earned a doctoral degree in molecular biology at Alabama A&M.
He taught at Cornell University and was a forensic scientist at the U.S. Criminal Investigation Laboratory in Jonesboro, Ga., helping to identify the remains of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after Bin Laden was killed in 2011 by Navy Seals in Pakistan. He joined the OC faculty seven years ago. Bolton’s wife’s name is Maanami.
His 2212 E. 11th St. church averages 125 people at its 10:45 a.m. Sunday services.
Pre-health sciences are the courses that prepare students to study medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and optometry.
A protégé of the Rev. Clay Evans of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, Bolton was very gratified when the Rev. Evans’s family gave him the late pastor’s last black and white preaching robe, which he sometimes wears at church. “Pastor Evans was like a grandfather to me,” he said.
“He was known as the black godfather of Gospel preaching. He ordained me into the ministry.”
Evans was also a singer and songwriter whose 11 albums all charted on the Billboard Gospel Albums Chart.
Bolton, 45, was assistant pastor at the All People Worship Center here and at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Andrews before accepting the St. James Missionary Baptist pastorate.
His favorite scriptures are the 12th chapter of Isaiah, in which the prophet is praising God, and Colossians 3:17, which says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
His motto is, “God will attach his holy to your mess to produce holiness.”
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The Rev. Chris Hagger, senior pastor with Bolton at All People Worship Center and Mount Olive Baptist Church, said he “loves God’s people and is committed to their growth.
“James is a man of integrity and a very humble man,” the Rev. Hagger said. “He is down to earth, patient and truthful. I trusted him with my congregations and he allowed me to travel because I knew his teachings would be sound.”
