Jim Hain is the pastor at Assembly of God in Maricopa. Photo by Mason Callejas

By Joycelyn Cabrera

Pastor Jim Hain describes himself as a “teacher-preacher” due to his typical style-mix between teaching and preaching the western Bible.

This year, the former microelectronics engineer became the appointed pastor at the local Assembly of God church, joining the Maricopa community in February. Hain is originally from Kensington, Maryland, and has five children with his wife Allene.

Hain studied microelectronics, chemistry and engineering at American University in Washington, D.C., later working for Honeywell Aerospace Satellite Division in Glendale. Hain began to work under the Assembly of God church in the 1970s, describing, “a personal relationship with Jesus Christ” which drove him to a vocation of ministry.

He took on a dual career path, opening opportunities to focus on training others in personal evangelism.

While working in a microelectronics field, Hain attended seminaries and developed his ministerial training as a separate career. Hain and his wife were voted to be the new lead pastor and missions coordinator, respectively, for the Maricopa Assembly of God this year.

Hain’s predecessor, Shelly Hogan, moved to Georgia to work with Global Teen Challenge, an organization that offers treatment for addiction-afflicted teens.

“Pastor Jim is such a blessing,” said Associate Pastor Melissa Jirsa. “He’s been such a blessing to us since he’s come in February, and I think he’s really just been kind of a healing vessel for our church. He has a real heart for our community and desires to basically bring all of us with him on that journey, and go out into the community and reach the community for Christ, and I’m really excited about that, personally.”

Hain hopes to connect with other churches and create awareness of Assembly’s existence in the community.

“We’ve been here a long time,” he said.

The goal is to reach out with neighboring churches and congregations.

“He is the perfect person to do it,” Jirsa said. “That’s what he’s spent his life doing, is going out and starting up churches and evangelizing and it’s just a real blessing that he’s here with us.”

A typical Sunday will see 30-55 members year-round, with seen notable growth with the addition of seasonal “snowbirds” who attend during the cooler months.

Hain describes his congregation as, “a group of wonderful people who love the Lord and love each other.”

The Assembly of God church is at 20038 N. Taft Ave. with services available Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

MaricopaAG.com


This story appears in the November issue of InMaricopa.

Photo by Mason Callejas