James Cheesman is a worship leader, songwriter, arranger, professor, and conference clinician. He serves as Worship Pastor at First Baptist Church in Farmersville, TX. James and his wife Megan are parents to Claire and Eve and have been foster parents to several other children.

James' father, as a Music Minister in Cuero, Texas, cultivated a love for music in James from an early age. James plays the piano, guitar, French horn, mandolin, accordion, and various other instruments. He started songwriting when he was 16 and began introducing his original songs to the local church when he was 22. James recorded his debut studio EP "Your Glory Alone" in Nashville. His second album, “Songs for a Church Like Ours,” contains eight songs all written for local church worship. His songs including “You Sought Me,”  “Faithful God,” “Do Not Grow Weary,” “Hosanna in the Highest,” and “Breathe on Me, Breath of God” have been sung in churches across the United States, Canada, Australia, the UK, and parts of Asia and Europe. He also enjoys singing in choir, as well as composing and arranging for choir. Several churches and universities have commissioned James for new, original works or arrangements.

After graduating from Cuero High School, James attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Church Music with a Concentration in Piano and a Minor in Religion, Summa Cum Laude, and he was very active in the bands and choirs in the School of Music. While at Baylor, James served as the Minister of Music at FBC Marlin, Texas, where he was ordained in 2012, an intern at First Baptist Nashville, Tennessee.

James went on to earn his Master's Degree in Church Music with a Concentration in Music Ministry from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. During that time, he served as Music and Worship Pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

James began serving as Worship Pastor at FBC Farmersville in 2015. In 2021, while still serving full-time at FBC Farmersville, he began teaching as an adjunct professor at Southwestern, teaching courses including “Worship Band Techniques” and “Songwriting.” Then James began working on his PhD in Church Music and Worship from Southwestern. His dissertation is entitled “O Hymns Arise: Christology, Narrative, and Poetry in the Modern Hymns of Getty and Townend (2001-2010),” and he anticipates graduating in 2026. In 2023, while Pastor Bart Barber served as the President on the Southern Baptist Convention, James served as the Music Director for the SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans. James is also very passionate about missions. He has combined music with missions on all fifteen of the international mission trips he has taken.