Summer 2009 | Volume 67, No. 4

Jim Shaddix

by Keith Collier

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One of Jim Shaddix’s greatest sources of joy growing up in West Texas was quarterbacking a football team, but all of that changed the first time he preached.

“The first time I ever stepped into a pulpit to preach,” Shaddix says, “God gave me a joy and a fulfillment and a passion that I had never experienced before. And he used that to confirm this calling on my life.”

Shaddix, pastor of Riverside Baptist Church in Denver, Colo., felt the call to preach during his third year of college. Raised by Christian parents who taught him about the inerrancy of Scripture, Shaddix determined early on in his ministry to preach as close to the Bible as he possibly could. This commitment found fertile soil at Southwestern.

“The roots of my commitment to exposition actually started my first semester at Southwestern Seminary as a master’s student,” says Shaddix. He learned how to use multiple sources and study of the original languages to understand what a text was saying and “reduce the subjectivity and human element of me as an interpreter.” His preaching classes, combined with the passion of professors like Roy Fish, fueled his desire to preach the Gospel faithfully.

During his time at Southwestern, Shaddix planted Arlington Park Baptist Church, which flourished under his unwavering commitment to evangelism and expository preaching. After completing his M.Div., Shaddix later returned to Southwestern to get his Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.).

“That’s probably the most practical endeavor I’ve been a part of,” says Shaddix. “The D.Min. program was a rich time, and God used that in a profound way in my life.”

Along with developing stronger exegetical skills, Shaddix feels the peer-learning environment of the D.Min. program was invaluable to his future ministry.

Upon completing his D.Min., Shaddix pursued a Ph.D. at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he served as a preaching professor. Tasked with re-creating the seminary’s D.Min. program, he drew from his positive experience at Southwestern to aid him in this assignment.

“God used a very good experience in the D.Min. program at Southwestern to give me a heart and a passion for that degree and for theological education in general,” says Shaddix.

During that time he also co-authored the book Power in the Pulpit with Jerry Vines and authored The Passion-Driven Sermon.

In 2005, Shaddix accepted the invitation to serve as pastor of Riverside Baptist, a vibrant church in the heart of the Rockies. He believes his two primary responsibilities as a pastor-shepherd are to feed and to protect his sheep.

“You do both of those things spiritually through the preaching and teaching of God’s Word,” says Shaddix.

Shaddix continues to invest in teachers and preachers of the Word. Along with training the Bible teachers at Riverside, he mentors local bi-vocational and ethnic pastors and teaches adjunctively at Golden Gate Baptist Seminary’s extension center in Denver.

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