James M. Mavis was born on June 22, 1955 in Butte, Montana. He is the son of Wesley and Irene Mavis, of Reno, NV and the son-in-law of James and Arlene Collier of Carson City, NV.

Upon graduating from Reno High School, Pastor Mavis joined up and served in the US Navy Submarine force in the USS Seadragon SSN-584 from 1975 to 1979 as an Electronic Tech Petty Officer 2nd Class.

After his service in the Navy he then attended University of Nevada, Reno, where he met his future wife, Christine Collier.

Pastor Mavis received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Nevada in 1981, after which he worked for Sierra Pacific Power Company in their accounting department for nine years. He and Christine married on May 29, 1982. The Lord blessed them with two sons: Matthew and Isaac. 

In August 1989 he entered Concordia Theological Seminary and graduated in May 1993 with a Master of Divinity degree. His vicarage year was at Our Savior Lutheran Church, in Fallon, Montana. Upon graduation from the seminary, Pastor Mavis accepted a call to Trinity Lutheran Church in Elgin, Minnesota. He served at Trinity until 1995. In fall 1995, Reverend Mavis accepted a call to Trinity Lutheran Church in Miles City, MT, and served there until May 2005. The Mavis’ served Faith Lutheran Church, in Tucson, AZ until January 2015 when he accepted a call to be Pastor for the dual parish of St. Mark Lutheran Church in Butte and Zion Lutheran Church in Whitehall, Montana.

Pastor Mavis' favorite Bible passage is Psalm 23, learned while he was Chaplin in the USS Seadragon. Pastor James and Christine Mavis' family at Zion considers ourselves inordinately blessed in the Pastor that the Lord has provided us.