Jim Gates returned to First Presbyterian Church, the church of his childhood, in 2005 to serve as Associate Pastor for Youth and Young Adults. As a youth in this congregation, and through loving parents and an awesome youth ministry program, Jim grew to know and love Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. After receiving his undergraduate and Divinity School degrees from Duke University, Jim accepted his first call here at First Presbyterian.  In January of 2010 Jim changed roles at the church and became the Associate Pastor for Evangelism, where he has had the amazing opportunity to welcome new members into the family of FPC and new believers into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.  In 2014, Jim took on the new challenge of becoming our Transitional Executive Associate Pastor.
 
Jim and his wife, Krista, met at Duke as undergraduates and were married in 2003.  Krista went on to receive a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Duke and now works at Granby High School in Norfolk, where she teaches physics.  Krista and Jim have two children: Jonathan Earling Gates, born in May 2009, and Zoë Rebekah Gates, born September 2011.  Jonathan and Zoë are simply amazing – tiny miracles to be celebrated every day.
Jim's life verse is Philippians 3:10-11: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain the resurrection from the dead."