I Am Wilshire: Jim Tapley

I Am Wilshire – Jim Tapley. Hometown: Las Cruces, New Mexico Education:  B.A., Baylor University, 1977; M.S., Information Systems, Drexel University, 2003 Profession: Freelance video producer and photographer Present city: Plano Tell us about your family. I have been with my life partner, Denise Casale, for just over five years. The love she and her adult children have shown me has…

The post I Am Wilshire: Jim Tapley appeared first on Wilshire Baptist Church - Dallas, TX.

I Am Wilshire – Jim Tapley.

Hometown: Las Cruces, New Mexico

Education:  B.A., Baylor University, 1977; M.S., Information Systems, Drexel University, 2003

Profession: Freelance video producer and photographer

Present city: Plano

Tell us about your family. I have been with my life partner, Denise Casale, for just over five years. The love she and her adult children have shown me has brought a joy to my life that I had forgotten could exist.

How about your work life? After 19 years as an award-winning photojournalist at WFAA-TV, I stepped away from journalism when my now ex-wife moved us to Philadelphia. I went to grad school and worked in corporate communications. We returned to Dallas, where friends and former colleagues put me to work in hospitals, churches, schools and oil and utility companies. For 16 years I’ve worked at SMU, where I produce material for Cox School of Business and Perkins School of Theology.

What are your favorite hobbies? I love to tinker, build and repair. I enjoy figuring out how to fix broken things. Often there are no leftover parts!

Where is your favorite place to travel? I’ll never turn down a trip to New Mexico or New York City.

What brought you to Wilshire and when? I know several former Wilshire staff members, but I was never in a position to make Wilshire my church home until 2016.

Where are you engaged in Wilshire? I have found a perfect spot serving in Wilshire’s video ministry, and we are members of Cord of Three Class.

Tell us about your faith journey. When I was a senior in high school, a minister at a youth conference convinced me I wasn’t really a Christian because I had not had a life-altering “road to Damascus” experience. While dealing with that turmoil, a family friend and pastor asked, “What were you believing in for all these years, then?” That discussion helped me understand the roots of my faith. It was a still, small voice that I heard at age 6:  Jesus loves me and has a place for me in God’s heavenly kingdom. All he asks is that I love God and love others. Faith is really that simple.

What’s something interesting most people wouldn’t know about you? As a member of Broadway Baptist, Fort Worth, in the mid-80s, I helped lead the media team and served on staff briefly in the early days of Cecil Sherman’s pastorate.

If you’d like to be featured in “I Am Wilshire,” email Carolyn Murray at [email protected].

The post I Am Wilshire: Jim Tapley appeared first on Wilshire Baptist Church - Dallas, TX.