Jim & Denise Kerwin
A Brief Background

See below for articles and audio by Jim Kerwin.

Jim Kerwin came from a non-Christian, church-going background and was saved at age sixteen in 1968 at the inception of what would later be called the Jesus Movement. He was baptized in the Holy Spirit nine months later and was called into full-time ministry by age nineteen. During his twenty years of pastoring independent, Spirit-filled churches, as well as some ministry abroad, his gift and calling as a Bible teacher and writer were confirmed and developed. Jim’s unique Bible teaching and writing contribution within the Body of Christ was summed up recently by one missionary Bible teacher thus:

He is a deep, logical, insightful… writer who does his research. I know I can trust whatever he writes to be balanced and inspired and significant.

Jim, who earned a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies (with a concentration in Christian Doctrine and History) at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is available for Bible teaching and ministry wherever the Lord opens the way. Numerous themes weave through Jim’s teaching—the New Covenant, Entire Sanctification, Heart Purity, “Listening Prayer,” the practical functioning of the spiritual gifts, the critical difference between soul and spirit, being led by the Spirit, what it means to “worship in spirit and truth,” and Woman in the Kingdom of God, to name just a few. In the unique tapestry of his ministry can be found influential threads from early Methodism, Wesleyan holiness, and the Pentecostal and charismatic movements. Dedicated to rightly dividing the divinely inspired Scripture and to faithfully presenting God and His truth to his listeners, Jim’s goal is to always minister in “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” (Ephesians 1:17) As one well-known Christian educator put it:

[Jim] has a well-deserved reputation at our church as a gifted and intriguing Bible teacher. He is passionate about “rightly dividing” God’s Word and has a genuine burden to see God’s people rightly taught and properly discipled. Whether in the pulpit or the classroom, Jim has the ability to easily establish a rapport with his listeners. His hearers seem to sense that the truths they hear carry all the more weight because they are spoken by a man who is living the truth that he teaches.

In addition to his growing body of Bible-teaching articles here on the Finest of the Wheat website, Jim has also authored magazine articles and tracts. His first book, The Rejected Blessing (2005), will be followed in 2012 (Lord willing) by his second book, Isaiah Reid: Portraits of a Prairie Prophet of Purity, the first-ever biography of this influential leader in the American Holiness Movement. Meanwhile, Jim has edited and released the first modern compilation of Isaiah Reid’s work, Boyhood Memories and Lessons (2007), followed by his second Reid compilation, Sunnyside Papers: Inspirational Sketches from God’s “Book of Nature” (2007). Most recently, Jim co-edited and released the centennial edition of Percy Gutteridge’s book Faith Is Substance.

Jim’s Better Half: Denise Kerwin

Jim found out just how true Proverbs 18:22 was when God brought his wife Denise into his life. Denise Halbert Kerwin comes from a godly heritage. She was born scant months before her parents left for the African mission field under the aegis of the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society (now known as WorldVenture). She accepted Jesus as her Savior around the time of her fifth birthday and has loved Him ever since. Her earliest memories are of France (where her parents attended language school) and the savannahs of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in West Africa, where her parents, Jim and Viola Halbert, were among the first pioneer missionaries to one of that country’s Unreached People Groups. (Their story is told in their uplifting autobiography, an encouraging and challenging book entitled Ivory in Our Hearts: The Special Work of God in Our Lives.) Denise lived in West Africa until her sophomore year of high school. She majored in Education at Cal State Long Beach and earned a lifetime teaching credential with the State of California.

It was during her college years that Denise came into a deeper walk with the Lord and yielded her life fully to pursuing His will. From her life’s many roles—missionary kid, pastor’s wife, teacher, school administrator, mother, grandmother, and her special gift as an exhorter—Denise brings a wealth of experience and spiritual sensitivity and wisdom into the Kerwins’ ministry mix. “Deni” serves as proofreader and an editor for the Finest of the Wheat site and for Finest of the Wheat Publications books. She also shares billing as co-editor of the Isaiah Reid compilation Sunnyside Papers and on the centennial edition of Faith Is Substance.

Though they are Virginians by habitation, Jim and Denise are members of the Iowa Holiness Association, an organization Jim serves in the capacity of webmaster.

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New Material from Jim Kerwin

Click on this logo for a link to the Kernels of Wheat podcast on the Kernels of Wheat website.

New Audios: Jim is blogging and doing a podcast called Kernels of Wheat on our podcasting site, KernelsOfWheat.com.
- The 1 John podcast series will recommence soon.