James Marshall

My story started right here in Shelby County. My family moved to the area when I was 5, and I grew up in the Oak Mountain School system. In high school, I spent time playing football and attending Asbury United Methodist Church.

I graduated from Oak Mountain High School in 2002 and started at Alabama as a Communications Major with the intention of going into Public Relations. That all changed when Jesus found and rescued me at 19 years old. I changed my major to History and began volunteer coaching at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I knew, then, my God given destiny was to use teaching and coaching to make disciples for Christ.

After Alabama, I began graduate school at UAB and took a job as a Teacher's Aid at Mountain Brook Junior High School. I met my wife and my best friend, Ashley, at Alabama, and we married while I was still in graduate school. I began to volunteer with Zach Skipper and Bigtime Ministries. I spent those two years coaching football, leading on retreats, teaching at morning Bible studies, and learning about ministry in schools from Zach and others at Bigtime.  

After graduating from UAB I began teaching at Chelsea Middle School and immediately began implementing the lessons I had learned at Mountain Brook in my classroom. Our Chelsea group began with five or six 7th grade guys sitting in a circle on Wednesday mornings in my classroom.

Today, we have more than 100 middle school and high school students meeting weekly all over our community. Ashley and I live in Chelsea Park, have two daughters, Laney and Jessa, and are deeply invested in our local church, Church of the Highlands. We are very passionate about reaching out to students in our community with the message of Jesus Christ!