Jim Henderson
Jim Henderson was first exposed to Christianity as a young adult. Before that point, his only goal in life was to be a jazz/rock musician. He sang in bands and played the flute and electric bass. Music was his life until he ran into Jesus. Once Jesus invited Jim into his heart, Jim said yes and began emulating the free-est person who ever lived – Jesus Jim eventually got involved in organized religion (it was the only option available at the time) and became a pastor. More specifically he and his wife and three kids got involved in the unusual work known as church planting, which is a lot like opening a Pizza parlor—except it's a church. Jim worked two jobs most of the time. Twenty-five years, two church plants, several failed attempts at being a missionary, and two years on a megachurch staff later, Jim finally got permission from Jesus to call The Ministry quits.About this time Jim became intrigued with the odd practice known as evangelism. After suffering for years from a serious love/hate relationship with this practice, he decided to devote some serious time to making evangelism doable. That led to his next project: Off The Map. Off The Map started in the garage of Jim Henderson's brain in 2000. The first project led to a book called Evangelism Without Additives and an organization called Doable EvangelismJim was confused by the fact that sinners seemed to like Jesus but didn't like his people, so he decided to ask why. This led to his paying "Outsiders" to come to church and offer their critique.A friend who was aware of Jim's odd habit noticed that an atheist was "selling his soul on eBay" and encouraged Jim to get in on the bidding. Off The Map won that auction for $504. The Wall Street Journal featured the story on their front page, which led to major media exposure. George Barna approached Jim about hiring another atheist and writing a book about their experiences together.Jim and Casper Go to Church was published in 2007, and Jim and Matt Casper began speaking and explaining their unusual project and friendship.Jim currently leads Off The Map, a community of spiritual anthropologists and mapmakers dedicated to spreading "Otherlyness," the spirituality of serving. Jim lives in the Seattle with Barbara, to whom he's grateful for staying married to him for a really long time.
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