Our Rector
The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III
The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III serves as the 14th Rector of St. James Episcopal Church, a call he accepted in May 2018. Before coming to St. James, Father Saunders served congregations in Maryland and North Carolina.h Carolina.
Father Saunders earned a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Congregational Development from the Bexley Hall – Seabury Western Theological Seminary Federation in Chicago, a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN, and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Management from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
He specializes in organizational systems, pastoral and relational ministry, and covenantal leadership and behavior. Building on his recent research, he has developed best practices for church human resources that are rooted in the baptismal covenant.
In addition to his work with St. James, Dr. Saunders serves as a Core Group Facilitator for the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program at Bexley Seabury Seminary, where he helps fellow priests draw on their experience and research to strengthen the wider church. He also develops workshops and courses on covenantal leadership, church human resources, and congregational vitality.
Born and raised in Tidewater, Virginia, Ken is a lifelong Episcopalian with a diverse background. He graduated from Frederick Military Academy in Portsmouth in 1985 and later attended The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, as a cadet through his junior year (Class of 1989). Due to hearing loss, a military career was not an option for him.
Before his ordination, Ken was a Health Physics and Radiological Controls Technician with Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, attached to the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU) in Charleston, South Carolina. In this role, he helped establish the Moored Training Ship (MTS) project, a nuclear submarine prototype, in Goose Creek, South Carolina. Following his service at Bettis, Ken spent over a decade in general management and consulting for residential construction companies, where he focused on organizing and strengthening teams to streamline operations and increase profitability.
Ken finally responded to God’s call to ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church while living and working in Asheville, North Carolina. He had wrestled with this call for most of his adult life.
Throughout his priestly ministry, Dr. Saunders has served on committees and project groups at the local, diocesan, provincial, and national levels of the Church. He has led ecumenical groups of local pastors in studying Scripture and developing programs that benefit the wider community. He is involved in diocesan committees focused on church programs, liturgy, property, and the boards of the camp and conference centers (Claggett and Grace Point). He facilitated a small group at the National Preaching Conference and served on a committee that hosted a six-diocese Small Church Leadership Conference in North Carolina and Virginia. He is currently serving his second term on the Standing Committee for the Diocese of East Tennessee (president in 2023 and 2026) and on the Liturgy and Music Commission for the Diocese of East Tennessee.
Rooted in a deep faith in Jesus Christ, Fr. Ken is devoted to God, family, community, and country. He enjoys the outdoors, traveling, and spending time with family and friends, and is known for being warm, welcoming, and approachable.
Ken and his wife, Kelly, live in Greeneville with their two cats, Harley and Li’l Bit. They have three grown children: Kent (married to Sophia), Kyle (married to Kara), and Kaytlynn (married to Ben), as well as one grandchild and two step-grandchildren.
423.638.6583 office
e-mail Fr. Ken
Worship Services
Fr. Ken’s Sermon Blog
Reflection blog (Sabbatical, Pilgrimage, and Travel)
Gospel-Based Disciple (Seasonal Scripture Reflections)
Living the Questions of Faith
Our Bishop
The Right Reverend Brian L. Cole, Bishop
The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
The Rt. Rev. Brian Lee Cole was ordained and consecrated as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of East Tennessee on December 2, 2017. He was elected June 28, 2017, during the electing portion of the 33rd Annual Convention of the diocese, succeeding the Rt. Rev. George Dibrell Young, who retired on December 2, 2017. (See Bishop Cole’s Official Website)
Bishop Cole is responsible for 50 parishes and worshiping communities in East Tennessee and Northern Georgia under his pastoral and administrative care. The bishop’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to, pastoral visits to each congregation, preaching, celebrating the Holy Eucharist, and confirming individuals into The Episcopal Church in the apostolic tradition by laying on hands.
As a bishop, he ordains priests and deacons and joins in the ordination of other church bishops. In these rites, the church remains in continuity with the apostles’ early church through the laying on of hands.
Bishop Cole presides over the annual diocesan convention and has administrative responsibility and ecclesiastical authority over all diocesan activities.
