Relationships at the heart of entrepreneurial ministry

Since high school, The Reverend Jessie Light-Wells (MDiv’17) knew her journey would eventually lead to seminary. “I felt like I could do my best work in the church.” She was excited to engage with the academically rigorous challenges, and as a fifth-generation clergy, she had a basic understanding of what to expect. But little did she know that Austin Seminary would offer a different experience that would challenge her assumptions. “Austin offered me all the things I needed the most but didn’t know I wanted.”

Reflecting on her experience at Austin Seminary, Jessie's lessons outside the classroom were as important as those inside. “The rich experience of learning to be in relationship with people—and not getting to opt out. That was definitely one of the most valuable things that came out of seminary for me.” She also treasured the experience of living in an intentional community and forging relationships that helped shape how she ministers today. This winsome and exemplary community that Austin Seminary is known for completed the holistic educational experience that prepared Jessie for what was to come.

After seminary, Jessie was called as the first Monie Pastoral Resident (named in honor of former Zbinden Professor Blair Monie) at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. After serving two years, Jessie felt called to campus ministry where she founded the first Presbyterian campus ministry at Southern Methodist University (SMU), UKirk SMU. Her gifts and an affinity for starting and building communities began to flourish, creating a space that attracted Presbyterians and numerous other Christians looking for a spiritual home. “Before we came on campus, there was no Christian ministry that was open and affirming, and I saw an opportunity to offer something new to students. Of the thirty Christian ministries on campus, we continue to be the only one fully affirming to LGBTQ students.”

Today, Jessie splits her time between campus ministry at SMU and Wood Street Worship, a ministry of First Presbyterian Church, Dallas. Wood Street was created to offer a different mode of worship to the larger community, and the hope is it will one day become its own entity, offering a space for creative and alternative forms of worship and living in the community.

Jessie’s experience at Austin Seminary ignited her entrepreneurial ministries. “My time at Austin Seminary was very formative in centering me on who I was and what I was called to. It was liberating in that I think I came in with one idea of who I wanted to be a pastor, and I left with a much fuller, freer, and more fluid understanding of what pastoring and ministry could be like.”

“For me, pastoring means showing up and being with people; sometimes, that is walking through some really difficult things, and other times, it’s just being somewhere and offering presence in space.” It’s also the central element of her work. “So much of this generative and creative work is relationship building. It’s a lot of learning how to gather people and giving them the richness of meaning-making, with worship being the center of these communities.”

Jessie remains connected with Austin Seminary through her relationships with former classmates and professors, and she advises current students to take advantage of their time there: “Invest deeply in relationships with others, whether that be classmates, professors, or people in the larger Austin community. Austin Seminary was a really beautiful place to lean into the relationships and build really strong friendships. It also offered the opportunity for friendships outside the seminary. So, it ended up being perfect for me.”