The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Eric Carroll

The Rev. Jonathan Eric Carroll, D.Min, has served alongside the First Presbyterian Church, Owensboro, as pastor since January 2005.

Dr. Carroll is a graduate of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (D.Min), Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.M.), Columbia Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and King College (B.A.). He has also studied in Egypt, Israel, Scotland, and Switzerland. His doctoral dissertation is called The Great Thanksgiving: Storytelling as Spiritual Formation. In it, he argues that the church has told and retold its ancient story of encountering God for ages, and has done so primarily around Pulpit, Font, and Table. Based on a research project completed at FPC, Dr. Carroll learns that when a small group of people participate in creating a safe space in which to tell their personal stories of faith and life, they begin to experience their own stories becoming the continual unfolding of God's story and vice versa both in corporate and personal worship settings. As such, this kind of storytelling is found to be a kind of spiritual formation by which people experience God more richly and fully.

Before arriving in Owensboro, Dr. Carroll served congregations in Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia. His first installed pastorate was in Virginia.