Jim Townsley

Despite that fact, or perhaps because of it, in 2017 Pastor Townsley created a weekly Bible study ministry in the Hartford capitol building for legislators with the support of the 400-member Central Baptist Church in Southington which he and his wife, Janet, planted in 1975. Only two or three legislators attended the weekly Bible study in its first year, and some of them were voted out of office in 2018. But Pastor Townsley knows how to grow ministries. Lauded as a leader in church planting, Pastor Townsley and Central Baptist Church congregation initiated and guided the starting of 17 churches and helped to plant more than 100 Baptist churches. And so, Pastor Townsley began to build the legislative ministry again by visiting legislators one by one in their offices, talk about God, and pray with them. In 2019, he joined with Capitol Ministries.

“What Capitol Ministries is doing is amazing. Ralph has planted Bible studies to the Cabinet, the Senate, and the House, and this alone has given Christians the courage to stand up. I want to see people saved, that is my first objective. My goal is to get the Gospel out, to give a Christian, godly voice to these legislators, an understanding of what is right and what is wrong, biblically.”