Diego Norman

James “Jim Bob/Diego” Norman was born in July 1984 in Blowing Rock, NC. He was raised in a Christian family, who always had a big heart for missions. He was baptized as a young teen, but throughout high school and college drifted away from the Lord. He is a lifetime member of First Baptist Church of Boone on the Appalachian State University campus. He has always loved sports, computers, movies, and music. He played basketball and football for his high school and was a part of some of the best Appalachian State football teams in history.

Upon graduation from ASU in December 2007, with a degree in Industrial Electronic Computer Technology and Minor in Computer Information Systems, he joined his parents on a mission trip to Nicaragua. Prior to this trip, Jim Bob had taken mission trips to Nigeria and Hawaii. He had served with disaster relief after Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, in Miami and New Orleans respectively.

That one week trip to Nicaragua took him, and most of his family and friends by surprise; in only 8 days, the Lord grabbed hold of his heart like never before. Three weeks later, Jim Bob was living in Nicaragua full-time and picking up responsibilities around New Song, mostly with youth.

In March 2014, he married Kenia Morales, and they had their first son, Freedom Emmanuel, in March 2016. They are blessed to have met through New Song, and live in the mission house. Currently, Diego (much easier to say than Jim Bob), is serving the Mission in many areas. His favorite roles include discipleship and hands-on projects with visiting teams; New Song is looking to relieve him of his financial responsibilities.

Jim Bob serves as president on the Board of Directors for New Song.