Welch College recently hired Dr. Jesse F. Owens to serve as a full-time faculty member in the newly formed Welch Divinity School, according to Provost Matthew McAffee.
A Welch 2010 graduate in pastoral ministry, Owens received the M.Div. (2013) and Ph.D. (2021) degrees from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. Since 2016 Owens has worked in the college’s facilities department managing lawncare operations. In addition to this maintenance management role, Owens has served as an adjunct instructor in the areas of theology and history.
Also in 2016, he led the efforts to start Immanuel Free Will Baptist Church, a new church plant in the Gallatin area, which he will continue to pastor on a part-time basis. Prior to his arrival at Welch, Owens served as senior pastor at First Free Will Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, from 2014 to 2016.
“Dr. Owens comes to this role from a long line of Free Will Baptist ministers,” McAffee said. “His father, Rev. Frank Owens, currently pastors the Sylvan Park Free Will Baptist Church in Nashville, TN, and his grandfather, Rev. Guy Owens, has pastored numerous churches throughout the decades of his ministry service among Free Will Baptists.”
“Dr. Owens has demonstrated success in the classroom as an adjunct instructor for the last five years,” McAffee continued. “He has already established an excellent reputation among faculty peers and students. His academic credentials are just what we need as we launch our new M.Div. program. I believe he has promise as a young Free Will Baptist scholar who will serve our denomination well and contribute to the Reformed Arminian cause.”
Owens will begin his faculty responsibilities as Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology. His primary area of focus will be teaching theology courses for the newly formed M.Div. degree, as well as undergraduate courses as needed. As part of his faculty responsibility, he will serve as acting director of the Christian Service program, a role that appropriately overlaps with his ministry experience.
President Matt Pinson said, “It’s unusual to find a faculty member who combines pastoral and church planting experience, high marks from students in classroom teaching, hands-on experience and a hard work ethic proven in a staff role, and such promise as a publishing scholar—all in one person. Jesse fits this profile to a tee, and we’re so delighted to have him move onto the full-time faculty of the new venture of Welch Divinity School.”
Owens is married to his wife Tiffany, a 2009 Welch graduate and native of Turbeville, South Carolina. They have two young children, Gavin and Carter.
For more information about the residential M.Div. degree or the online M.A. degree in Theology and Ministry, please contact Dr. Martin Sheldon (divinity@welch.edu).