Pastor James
Palmer, III

Background

Early Life and Education

I am Pastor James Palmer, III, and am honored to serve as the 11th pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church. I was born in Mt. Vernon, New York and grew up on the east coast, west coast, and the south - including the two Virginias. I am a graduate of Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta, Georgia, and attended my first year of college at Georgia State University before transferring to Bluefield State College, now Bluefield State University.

I am married to the love of my life, Stephanie Palmer, who has blessed us with three of the finest sons I could ever want.

Academic & Professional Career

Law, Teaching, and Public Service

I hold a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, with specializations in accounting and computer science, from Bluefield State College, and a Juris Doctor degree from Campbell University School of Law. I practiced law for 25 years in the areas of personal injury, medical malpractice, criminal defense, and child abuse and neglect. I also served as a county mental hygiene commissioner, hearing and deciding cases on petitions for involuntary hospital commitment.

Prior to practicing law, I served on the teaching faculty of Wytheville Community College in Virginia's Community College System, where I taught numerous mainframe programming languages, systems analysis and design, and as part of the college's curricular offerings to Bland Correctional Center, accounting and business psychology . I am also proud to have developed the college's personal computing offerings for businesses in the Wytheville Community College service region during my eleven years on their faculty. I have additionally served as adjunct faculty at Southwest Virginia Community College and Bluefield State College, teaching computer programming and, upon becoming a lawyer, business law.

Pastoral Ministry

A Passion for the Scriptures

Above all, I am a pastor, preacher, and teacher of the scriptures. That has been my passion since my calling to the ministry 45 years ago. In the scriptures there is LIFE! And the scriptures bring to life all those of any walk, any pedigree, any ethnicity, gender, or nationality who are willing to take the plunge into the depths of its LIFE giving and sustaining truths and learn about the sovereign God who loves, and His Christ who redeems!