James Hughes is the Global General Ambassador of the International Bible Christian Church Inc. (IBCCI), commissioned to foster unity across global church networks. Installed as Ecumenical Patriarch of Dove Gospel (DG), a worldwide Christian movement, Hughes is tasked with overseeing revival, discipleship, and mission across all seven continents.

Links:

• https://jameshughes.biz/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/empjames/

Welcome to 12-Minute Converse with Jesus Believers.

God chose first to have a conversation with us, His creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you, Pastor James.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

I'm in Sydney, Australia.

How long have you been in ministry?

Oh, since I was 18.

How old are you now?

30, 31, 32.

It's starting to blur.

Yeah.

It's 14 years.

You lose track, you know.

Yeah, well time in itself I think has definitely spread up with technology, yeah?

Definitely.

How did you meet Jesus?

I met Jesus through fairy bread and chocolate milk.

I've never heard that before.

I was at a high school and they were doing a youth event and I went there for the food and the, you know, the chocolate milk and I heard the message, I heard the gospel and I'm like, that's for me.

I like Jesus.

And yeah, I was baptized with the Holy Ghost soon after and I've professed Jesus as my Lord and Savior ever since.

Was your family into church?

No, my mother was a New Age Reiki master, so it created a lot of friction in the family.

Hmm.

How did you navigate that?

There were arguments and issues, but greater is He who is within us and I just tried to walk it out as best I could and, you know, the Lord honored those steps.

And your father, was he present?

Yes and no.

Until I went and lived with my grandmother, he wasn't really part of my life, so.

Was your grandmother a believer?

Old school.

She wanted to be a missionary in Uganda.

Wow, that's amazing.

It's amazing how that connected.

So were you sent to your grandmother at that point or were you, it just happened that being by your grandmother worked out as part of life?

It was over disagreements and my mother wasn't really supporting me as she should be and it was just better for my care at the time, you know, I was in year seven, so I was only a young'un.

Would you say your ministry has been somewhat similar in that you're having people come to the ministry and then having to support them because of it not being the right fit with their family members?

I'd say the way I started the ministry ended up being a polar opposite because those that came to be part of the ministry wanted to lift me up.

They wanted to father, they wanted to mother, they wanted to raise me in the faith.

So my natural family, you know, who were my mother, who were my father, those around me actually stepped up to support that development.

What does ministry look like today for you?

Countless messages.

There are so many emails.

My inbox is flooded and I cannot keep up.

It's like, it must be a football field worth of DMs that I just, I'm never going to be able to reply to.

Like I do my best, like comments on Facebook, for instance, like I have a little dashboard and that says comments, you know, I go through them all.

But outside of that, I just, you know, yeah, we posted our anniversary picture on Facebook and the comments, I mean, it was probably just short of 250, right?

And I'm thinking to myself, what does someone do when they get 10 times this?

Like, how do they even begin to manage that?

You know?

So tell us what you do and what's your position in ministry, please.

What we do today is predominantly reaching people with the gospel that wouldn't otherwise hear it or even see it now with the media arm.

We look at pursuing a message of salvation, of peace, of grace, of mercy.

You know, that when you walk into heaven, when you step into the arms of the father for the first time, you can come as you are.

And what that looks like day to day for me is showing that through my actions and training and teaching those attributes into other people around me as well.

So it's been quite a development.

What's the organization you're with right now?

Dove Gospel.

So what does Dove Gospel represent in terms of you looking at the transitions of your life in Christianity?

Is it the top of the mountain, middle of mountain, bottom of mountain?

I would say it's not so much a mountain because, you know, the mountain is thrown into the midst of the sea.

I'd call it a collective.

You know, we have believers from all walks, from different parts of Christianity, and we come together to form a network.

It's like a family.

You know, for example, we've got Pastor Anwar in Pakistan with one of the biggest ministries in Pakistan.

And then we've got Bombardier Munday Wilson out of Uganda, Africa, and he's our pre- late Archbishop for continental Africa.

There are so many churches, leaders and ministers and bishops and archbishops.

And I guess my role in that is to maintain decorum and to support people's growth to be drawn closer to the Lord.

So you've continued the journey of your grandmother, haven't you?

Yeah, pretty much.

And it was really funny because I didn't set out to be ordained in the way that I have been.

You know, when the Lord spoke to me in my grandmother's spare room, he said, start my church.

I'll never forget saying, I don't want to do that.

I have this problem, that problem, this problem, that problem.

And I can't do that.

Why would a lot?

I just got a call.

The Lord spoke to me and it just was such a deep, prompting just to step out into the unknown by faith and not by sight.

Has it been challenging?

Absolutely.

There's been good days, bad days, days in between.

Some more challenging than others, but you just got to persevere.

What's on the horizon for you?

Well, that's a hard question to answer because there's been so much happening around me, around the ministry, around the church.

The Lord's just blessing.

I didn't anticipate what would happen this year.

You know, we've had, for example, Dove Gospel Television for years.

It's run at really basic automated, you know, just runs your programs and it's just basic, but the Lord breathed into it and on it and reestablished what we were doing.

And I couldn't have anticipated that.

And then it branched out into Pakistan and we're looking at launching in Germany and we're finding partners and people to preach and speak and that's establishing new relationships.

It's just such a blessing.

You know, it's not my will, but his will be done.

Five years from today listening to this conversation, you'll be four years short of the big 40 number that we always celebrate.

What's the message you'd be for future you?

Keep the faith, keep the path, walk by faith and not by sight.

When you think about Bible characters at this particular junction of your life, who's the character of Bible that resonates with you the most?

I'd say Paul.

When you look through the book of Acts and the jail cells and the ground shaking and the prison doors opening, the thorn in his side, I resonate with that.

As a young man doing what you've done, which is huge, right?

And being the global general ambassador.

And as you mentioned, not having that as a, Hey, this is what I want to do.

Yeah, that is what I'm going for.

Right.

What would you say to other young men who are listening in terms of sticking through with their calling?

I would say go to Jesus because his plan for you might not be what your own is.

And when you trust in him and all he has for you, he'll set you on the path that he's laid out.

And as though it may look different, it will be one of the most rewarding experiences you'll ever have, to be quite honest.

In closing, is there anything else you'd like to share?

Thank you for the blessing.

You know, just to be able to share my heart with you and with the listeners, it's really a blessing.

So thank you for the blessing.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

Again, a pleasure.

I treasure.

Thank you for being on what is inspired by 12 Minute Converse.