Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,
It is with great joy that I announce that Wesley Rowell will be joining our staff on July 1. Wesley will serve as our full-time Lay Pastoral Associate. Wesley’s role will include assistance and support for pastoral care, youth and family ministry, and community engagement.
Wesley is a May 2023 graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, where he is receiving his MDiv, with concentrations in both Black Church Studies, and in Theology, Women & Gender. He was recently awarded the Edward Howell Roberts Scholarship in Preaching.
A Fayetteville, North Carolina native, Wesley moved to Princeton in 2020, after 24 years of living in New York City, where he was a member of Middle Collegiate Church. Raised in the AME Zion Church, and the grandson of a pastor, Wesley was confirmed in 2022, and is currently in the ordination process for the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. Wesley ministered at Middle Church and has interned at our own beloved Trinity Episcopal Church. He also served on the search committee to select the Rev. Dr Jonathan Lee Walton as the new president of Princeton Theological Seminary.
In NYC and Chicago, Wesley was a professional musician, and has sung in the choirs of St. Thomas Episcopal Church NYC, Grace Episcopal Church NYC, and Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, as well as several regional opera companies throughout the country. Wesley earned a BM from Methodist College in Fayetteville, NC, and was an MM vocal performance major at the University of Illinois.
Wesley’s passion for ministry and deep commitment to Christ can be summarized in his own words, “I’m still astonished by John 1:14 ‘And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’ Wow.”
Outside (and perhaps inside) of church, Wesley loves to dance (sometimes badly and always boldly), sing karaoke (where he is viciously competitive), and read (voraciously). He loves all kinds of music, from Bach to Blues to Bartok to Beyonce, and loves the Duke Ellington quote, "there's only two kinds of music; good and bad.”
Wesley's interests in the intersections of race, trauma, justice, gender, families, queerness, Jesus, and the Church led him to Princeton Seminary and Princeton, NJ, and ultimately to Trinity Church Princeton, where he is excited to further his ministry.
Join me, in welcoming Wesley to Trinity!
Peace,
The Rev. Paul Jeanes III, Rector