New chaplain appointed for Absalom Jones Center and Chapel

6/29/2010

The Rev. Kimberly S. Jackson has been appointed Episcopal chaplain for Absalom Jones Student Center and Chapel at Atlanta University Center, which serves the students and faculty of four historically black colleges and universities – Clark Atlanta, Morehouse, Morris Brown and Spelman. Her appointment, announced June 29 by the office of the Episcopal bishop of Atlanta, the Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander, is effective Aug. 1.

Jackson, 25, a native of Spartanburg, S.C., is a graduate of Furman University, Greenville, S.C., where she majored in history. A former Ministry Fellow of the Fund for Theological Education, she holds a master of divinity from Candler School of Theology at Emory University and completed an additional year of Anglican studies at Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Va. Currently a transitional deacon in the Episcopal Church, she will be ordained a priest this fall.

While a student at Candler, Jackson spent three years working as an emergency medical tech for Emory University. This summer she serves as assistant director of the month-long residential Youth Theological Initiative sponsored at Emory by Candler School of Theology for rising high school juniors and seniors. It is her fourth summer working with the program.
“I love working with young people in general,” said Jackson. “I think that (they) bring energy and questions that the church really needs to listen to and hear. They make great conversation partners, and they help stretch me and help me grow in my own relationship with God.”

The Absalom Jones Student Center, named for the first African-American to be ordained an Episcopal priest in 1804, is at 807 Fair St., Atlanta, next door to the home of the president of Morehouse College. Holy Communion services are held there at 7 p.m. Wednesdays during the school year, along with other activities.

On Sundays Jackson is part of the worshipping community at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 306 Peyton Road SW, Atlanta.

6/10/2010
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7/6/2010
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