Bishop James Edward Tripp, Jr. was reared in Greene County (Walstonburg, NC), he attended Greene County Schools and graduated from Greene Central High School June 1976. He attended Pitt Community College, majored in the Police Science Curriculum. He was a 1981 graduate of the Wilson Police Academy. He graduated from The Institute Of Government University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University Masters of Public Administration Program in March 2004;The Law Enforcement Executive Program. He also received a certificate from the Institute of Government at Chapel Hill for competition of The Basic personnel Administration. Bishop Tripp is also a Notary Public and he has attended a number of workshops and seminars relating to law enforcement and religion. Bishop Tripp preached his initial sermon on September 28, 1980, subject "Lord Come By Here". Bishop Tripp is the son of Mrs. Mary F. Tripp & the late James E.Tripp. He is married to the former Dorothy Louise Edwards and they have one daughter, Delicia Janel Tripp-Kimbrough (Stephen)


Service as Pastor: St. Peter Original FWB Church in Vanceboro, NC 1986 - 1996
Holly Hill Original FWB Church in Belvoir, NC 1991- Present

Service to the Northeast Original FWB Conference: Bishop Tripp has served as a District Supervisor, Treasurer for the Pitt County Union Meeting and President of the Cape Fear District Union Meeting.

Service as Bishop:  Bishop Tripp was elected Presiding Bishop of the Northeast Original FWB Conference in October 1996. He was elected by the Bishops of the General Conference of the Original FWB to serve as II-Vice Bishop during the 2005 General Conference. In the month July 2006, during the National Free Will Baptist Convention, Bishop Tripp was selected and asked to serve as Vice-President of the National Free Will Baptist Convention. In July 2008 it was announced that he is the Vice-President of the National Free Will Baptist Convention.

Law Enforcement Career: His career began in October 1981 with the Farmville Police Department as a patrolman until September 1982. He then joined the Greenville Police Department as a patrolman in September 1982 and served until December 1998. During his years of service with the Greenville Police Department he served as a public relations officer, juvenile office, crime prevention officer, supervised the parking control officers and he served nine (9) years as Program Coordinator for the Greenville Housing Authority Drug Elimination Program supervising four (4) officers as a corporal. After resigning from the Greenville Police Department, December 7, 1998 he was sworn in as a Pitt County Deputy Sheriff where he served as Chief of Community Operations. In that position he serves as assistant to the Sheriff and under that division he supervises the Training and Equipment Unit, Communications Center, Court Bailiffs, D.A.R.E. Officer, Crime Prevention Officer, Pitt County Sheriff's Office Gang Task Force, Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator, Child Support Unit, Civil Enforcement Unit and the County Office Deputies. In the month of November 2008 he became Chief of Investigation