About ME
James R. Welch jr.
James Welch | President, Join Compassion – New Orleans, LA
After leading through necessary but painful organizational changes at Firt Baptist FTL, decisions about finances, staffing, and beloved traditions during institutional decline, I expereinced the isolation that comes with difficult leadership. I moved back to New Orleans, rebuilt in resilience and committed to helping other leaders navigate similar challenges with humility and compassion. Committed to helping the vulnerable and underserved of New Orleans and cities around the world.
James is a leader, communicator, and city advocate driven by one core passion: helping people flourish. As President of Join Compassion in New Orleans, James brings years of visionary leadership to the intersection of faith, community, and public life.
Born and raised along the banks of the Mississippi River in Hayti, Missouri, James grew up in an entrepreneurial home. His father owned several businesses, yes, even movie rental stores, where James learned firsthand the value of hard work, communication, and serving people. That early exposure to retail and the rhythm of the public square sparked a lifelong passion for leadership and connection.
Drawn to cities from a young age, James has spent the last two decades nurturing voices of courageous compassion in urban spaces. His mission is simple yet profound: to inspire people to care deeply, act boldly, and lead with conviction.
Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, James founded the Convergence Center for the Arts, followed by the Harbor Community Collective—both focused on renewal, creativity, and community healing. His writings have been featured in outlets such as The Christian Post, and he’s contributed op-eds on culture, faith, and leadership.
When he's not serving his city or mentoring leaders, James is a devoted fan of the LSU Tigers, New Orleans Saints, and St. Louis Cardinals. He finds joy in jogging, photography, drawing, writing, fishing, and most of all, spending time with family and friends.
James holds a B.S. in Organizational Management and a Master of Theology from Campbellsville University. He married his high school sweetheart, Amy, and they make their home in the vibrant Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans. They’ve raised three remarkable young adult children who all love New Orleans and cities.
No Perfect Leaders Allowed
Over the past few years, I experienced one of the most challenging seasons of my life, marked by a public and painful leadership conflict during my tenure at First Baptist Fort Lauderdale. Words were spoken, some without context, some simply untrue. The pain was real, the wounds deep. I wish I could say those moments left no mark, but they did. They reshaped me. But they also refined me.
In March 2023, I made the hard but necessary decision to step away. What followed was not a retreat, but a pilgrimage of restoration, a deliberate six-month journey into healing, wholeness, and rediscovery. I rested. I reflected. I reconnected with my family, my mentors, and God. I came face-to-face with my humanity, and in the quiet, I rediscovered the sustaining power of grace. Through each moment of stillness and every difficult question, God reminded me of the call He placed on my life, a call that hasn’t been canceled, only deepened.
This journey resonates with the heart behind my upcoming book, City Care: Let’s Walk These Streets Together. At its core, City Care is about compassionate presence, urban healing, and the faithful pursuit of justice, mercy, and love in our cities. That mission wasn’t born in a boardroom; it was forged in the crucible of conflict and confirmed through seasons of spiritual clarity. Likewise, my free 7-Day devotional, Still Standing: A Devotional for Wounded Leaders, was not written from a platform of triumph but from the trenches of perseverance. Each entry reflects the unshakable truth that though we fall down, we rise again, anchored by hope, strengthened by grace, and made resilient by love.
In late 2023, I accepted the call to lead a New Orleans-based nonprofit committed to compassion ministry. I now serve with a clearer vision, a humbler heart, and a more profound passion for building communities of transformation. My leadership today is rooted not in titles or platforms, but in a firm commitment to three core values:
· Leading with humility and accountability
· Serving with vulnerability and grace
· Building communities of compassion
To those walking through your seasons of crisis, I walk beside you. This story isn’t just mine. It’s ours. There is healing ahead. There is a purpose waiting. There’s still a city to love and a people to serve.
We're still standing. And by God’s grace, we’re still building.
Hopeful City
When I think of New Orleans, I see more than a city; I see a living canvas where brokenness and beauty coexist, like grace and truth. Yes, there are wounds here, deep ones, but even the cracks glow with color, creativity, and fierce resilience. This is a city that dances even when it limps, and sings even in sorrow.
The winds of the Crescent City whisper through ancient oaks, their branches thick with memory and life. Sunlight filters through the green canopy like heaven’s gentle hand on our shoulders. Azaleas bloom with a joy that feels defiant, bursting into color as if to say, “We’re still here.” Shotgun homes and creole cottages lean in close, telling stories in hues of peach, mint, and rust. Sunrises invite us to begin again, and sunsets wrap us in the peace of God’s nearness.
New Orleans is raw. And radiant. It’s a mosaic of struggle and spirit. From the electric joy of the second line to the humble sweetness of a snoball on a summer afternoon… from Mardi Gras Indians adorned in sacred splendor to the boiling of crab pots turning blue to red, this city pulses with divine creativity. Here, art is not a luxury. It’s survival.
Celebration. Resistance. Praise.
We who call this city home live in a sacred tension, a place where lament does not cancel out laughter, and hope is not a fantasy but a fierce discipline. There is nowhere like
New Orleans.
And here’s the good news: God is doing something in our streets. Churches are collaborating across lines that once divided. Neighbors are transforming blighted lots into gardens. Artists are raising beauty like banners of resistance. Young people are rising up with vision and conviction. Mercy is finding its way into courtrooms, classrooms,
and corners too long forgotten.
New Orleans has every reason to be a hope-filled city, not because we’ve arrived, but because God is not done. The story isn’t finished. And in this unfinished story, we walk these streets together, holding onto faith, sowing justice, and trusting that even here, even now,
beauty will rise from the ruins.