This story was updated to reflect a new time and date, 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28. Same location.
Jessica Kitchens Lewis 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. Sunday, Jan. 28, in the Harold and Jean Lambert Recital Hall of the Clayton Center for the Arts on the campus of Maryville College.
All are invited to attend the service and the 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 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.”
Maryville College provided information and quotes for this report.