MAST program director, Maryville College alumna Jessica Lewis to be ordained Jan. 28 on campus
Jan. 12, 2024
Jessica Kitchens Lewis ’07 will be ordained and installed to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament of the Presbyterian Church (USA) by the Presbytery of East Tennessee in a service scheduled for 3 p.m., Jan. 28, in the Harold and Jean Lambert Recital Hall of the Clayton Center for the Arts. Although originally scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 21, inclement weather and hazardous road conditions have led to its postponement until the following weekend.
Maryville College invites all faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors and friends to attend the service and reception that follows.
Lewis, who completed her master of divinity degree from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in the fall, will be ordained and installed as the director of Maryville College’s Maryville Adventures in Studying Theology (MAST) program, which she has been leading since returning to her alma mater in February 2022.
Lewis graduated from Maryville College in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in Biology and moved to Laurel, Mississippi, where she worked as the director of Christian education at First-Trinity Presbyterian Church for 12 years.
“Maryville College has played a major role in the foundation and formation of my faith,” she said. “In my undergraduate years, MC encouraged me to seek understanding, ask big questions, and see the image of God in those around me. Maryville College welcomed me into the fold of being the church in the world through campus ministry and community engagement, and it connected me with a wonderful and loving congregation in Laurel, Mississippi, that further encouraged me on my path to seminary.
“It is a joy and an honor to continue answering my call to ministry as a staff member at Maryville College as we remain committed to the mission of supporting our students and providing a safe place for them to ask questions, to learn about faith, and to be loved wholeheartedly,” she added.
Maryville College President Dr. Bryan F. Coker said the campus has been the location of several church-led installation services, but Lewis’s ordination service at the College is believed to be a first in its nearly 205-year history. He said he applauds the historic moment while also celebrating what the service signals for the present and future of the College.
“All of us at Maryville College are incredibly proud of Jessica and honored that the College has been such a central part of her faith journey,” Coker said. “I am grateful for her role with our MAST program, which is a wonderful manifestation of our church-relatedness today. I, along with many others, celebrate her ordination and look forward to supporting her ministry here.”
MAST approved as validated ministry
With Lewis’s ordination, MAST also has been approved as a validated ministry of the Presbytery of East Tennessee — one of three at Maryville College. The others are the work of the campus ministry and the Ralph W. Beeson Professor of Religion.
MAST aims to cultivate youth leaders for the church and world by helping them discover and embrace the traditions of Christian faith, put their faith into practice, and explore — through the lenses of Bible study and theology — important questions of our time. Funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc., MAST is part of the foundation’s High School Youth Theology Institutes initiative, which seeks to encourage young people to explore theological traditions, ask questions about the moral dimensions of contemporary issues and examine how their faith calls them to lives of service.
In addition to recruiting students for MAST programs and the high-school retreat program Expanding Horizons, Lewis will continue to collaborate with staff members from the Center for Campus Ministry and the offices of Admissions and Church Relations to develop cross-departmental outreach to the community and support to Maryville College students. She will continue her work with the Presbytery’s youth ministry initiatives and assist the College’s efforts to support existing church partnerships and nurture new ones.
MC community participates
Participants in the Jan. 28 service include members of Lewis’s ordination commission, as well as several Maryville College representatives. Kathleen Farnham, director of church relations and an elder at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, will offer the greeting; Sam Goins ’27, a current MC student, Church & College Scholar and Expanding Horizons alum, will read from the Scriptures; Chief of Staff Jordan McCullough ’18, alumna Madalyn Carpenter McCullough ’18 and current student Gavin Lester ’24 will provide special music. Dr. William Meyer, professor of philosophy and the Ralph W. Beeson Professor of Religion, will offer the charge to the community.
The Rev. Dr. Anne D. McKee, who served Maryville College as campus minister from 2001 until 2022, will deliver the sermon for the ordination service.
“Jan. 28 will be a very exciting day as we come together in support of Jessica and in validation of MAST’s mission of developing thoughtful, faithful youth and young adults,” Farnham said. “It is a full-circle moment to celebrate Jessica’s next steps in ministry, the communities and individuals who nurtured her gifts, and the promise of her service and leadership at Maryville College, in the Presbytery of East Tennessee, and the wider Church.”