INTRODUCING THE 25th RECTOR OF TRINITY ON


CAPITOL SQUARE


With joy and delight, the Wardens & Vestry announce the calling of the 25th Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church on Capitol Square: The Rev. Jed J. Dearing. 


Jed, who currently serves as Associate Rector, will transition to the Rector position on July 1. 


Jed was ordained in 2020 in the Diocese of Southern Ohio. After completing his Master of Divinity at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Jed served as Clergy in Residence at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Springboro. Jed has served as Associate Rector at Trinity since January of 2022 where he has shared in liturgical leadership and formation while leading initiatives to grow community, strengthen outreach, build Dioceasan partnerships and expand worshiping opportunities. Trinity has been blessed by Jed’s joyful and collaborative leadership as Associate and we are thankful that we can continue to partner with Jed in ministry for years to come. 


Jed and his wife, Raine Dearing, a commercial interior designer who is a sales lead for King Business Interiors, have two children: Llewyn, 4, and Reynolds, 2. Raine is a veteran of both AmeriCorps and the US Army. She served a tour of duty in Afghanistan in the civil affairs unit before attending the Ohio State University.


Originally from Maryland, Jed moved to Columbus in 2001 and has been an Episcopalian since 2009. Prior to seminary, Jed was for five years the Episcopal Service Corps Program director for Confluence Year, located at the time at St. John’s Town Street, Columbus. Jed has served two terms as a member of the Commission on Ministry and is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Jed has an evident love for the City of Columbus and its people. You’ll likely see him bussing or bicycling to and from the office. In his free time, Jed enjoys playing volleyball and disc golfing, visiting the Gateway Film Center and Columbus Museum of Art, or exploring the Columbus Metro Parks with his family. 


The Rev. Dr. Stephen Applegate’s last Sunday with us as Interim Priest-in-Charge will be June 25, where we’ll express our thanks for his and his wife Terry’s presence and celebrate the ministry we accomplished together during the interim period. We’re especially grateful to the members of Vision Trinity who spent nearly ten months on the search process,  preparing the parish profile and related documents. A special thanks to the current members of the Vestry who spent time discerning, interviewing and eventually calling Rev. Jed. Furthermore, we extend gratitude to the Diocese of Southern Ohio and their transition office, especially the Rev. Canon Michael Spencer who provided invaluable support and guidance for the vestry in this process. The care with which everyone fulfilled their roles speaks to the love we all have for Trinity. 


We look forward to Jed’s transition to Rector and to all the good that the future holds for our church as we continue the ministry of Trinity on Capitol Square in Christ’s name.


In faith and peace,


Bill Forbes, Senior Warden

Joel Norris, Junior Warden



A LETTER FROM OUR RECTOR-ELECT

Dear Friends, 


We are approaching the fifth Sunday of Easter and it is hard for me to believe that Holy Week was only a month ago. 


I was quite stirred by the Holy Week services this year. Tenebrae on Wednesday night was a moving affirmation that God meets us each personally in our most difficult moments, nourishing us, embracing us, healing us and leading us through darkness into the light. I need reminders like those from the writings of Desmond Tutu, that “God’s gracious love is poured out unreservedly” for each of us. The stirring music amongst the candlelight in the nave created quite a peaceful place for a personal encounter with the Spirit. 


I experienced Maundy Thursday as an invitation into the communal life of the church as we served one another through the ceremonial washing of hands and shared Christ’s Supper near our Columbarium. The Columbarium is a consistent reminder to me that we are joined together in following Jesus with all those who have passed their faith along to us. Trinity is certainly rich with both the presence of the great cloud of witnesses and today’s faithful servants of Christ who follow Jesus’ admonition to love one another. 


Finally, Good (Trouble) Friday, like Jesus’ crucifixion, led us out into the public square. A short journey for us at Trinity who only need to walk through the Third Street doors and look across the street to be reminded of the intersection of our faith in a suffering Christ with the needs of those in our state. The presence of so many people of faith from across the Episcopal Church and wider Christian community processing through the Stations of Love and Justice was a beautiful ecumenical expression of the church marrying the prayerful and the prophetic as a public witness to the crucified Christ, who stretched out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace. 


I write to you today having joyfully accepted the call to be your next Rector. I’m thankful to serve in a church where each of the above facets in the life of faith, the personal, communal and prophetic, exist with such ample expression. Columbus is a city that I love deeply, have invested my adult life in, and now share with Raine, Llewyn & Reynolds as the place we call home. I am humbled to now call this House of Prayer for All People the home for my priestly ministry as Rector. 


I am grateful for the unique opportunity that I’ve had as Associate Rector to come to know this parish as we discerned this call together. It is a gift work alongside an Interim Priest-in-Charge as wise and caring as Rev. Stephen Applegate, along with a committed vestry and staff who have worked hard together to lead Trinity into this new season. 


I look forward to what new things God will birth at Trinity as we continue to follow the resurrected Jesus together in the strength of the Spirit. 


Serving with You, 

Rev. Jed Dearing