Rev. Dr. Jonathan M. Bailes

Rector

I grew up in Spartanburg, South Carolina and I’m proud to call the upstate my home. It was here that I first came to know Jesus. It was here that I was discipled in the faith. It was here that I first felt a call to ministry and gained my first experience in ministry, teaching Bible clubs with Child Evangelism Fellowship.

But for more than two decades, I lived away from the upstate. I attended college at Bryan College in East Tennessee and, after that, I spent over a decade pursuing graduate education in Alabama and Massachusetts, obtaining a M.Div. at Beeson Divinity School and a Ph.D. in theology at Boston College. After six years in Boston, my family and I moved to Plano, Texas. We lived there for eight years and were happy to be a part of Christ Church Cathedral, where I served as senior associate rector and canon theologian. During that time, in addition to my work at Christ Church, I also had the opportunity to teach Christian history and theology at the undergraduate and graduate level and to serve on several theological task forces and advisory committees for the Anglican Church in North America and the Global Anglican Communion.

Four states and twenty-three years later, I was wonderfully surprised and enormously thankful when the opportunity arose to return to the upstate and serve as the second rector of St. Paul’s Church. The Lord worked mightily through the faithful ministry of T Brown, the first rector of St. Paul’s. T taught people to know, love, and trust in Jesus. And I am honored to work toward that very same goal.

Thankfully, when I returned to the upstate, I didn’t come alone but was instead accompanied by my wonderful wife, Rachael, and our four incredible children: Elizabeth, Charlie, Lucy, and Maggie.