St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Smithfield, North Carolina, Welcomes New Priest

On July 1, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Smithfield, North Carolina, welcomed the Rev. Kenny Miller.

After a long, intensive search for a new Priest, the Vestry of St. Paul's chose the Rev. Kenny Miller, who was then serving as Assistant Rector at St. James Episcopal Church in Wichita, Kansas, to serve as the 23rd Rector of St. Paul's. According to church documents, the Search Committee, co-chaired by Ken Ferguson and Russell Wilcox, reviewed more than 60 applicants over an 18 month period before narrowing the search to 2 candidates. The vestry, under the leadership of Beverly Jordan the Senior Warden, then chose Miller to be their next Rector.

"Rector" is the title given to a priest in the Episcopal Church that is chosen to be the senior or lead priest in an Episcopal Church.

Attendance records at St. Paul's shows that there are approximately 200 members at St. Paul's and the average Sunday attendance is 90-95 people. This is just under the average size of an Episcopal Church today. However, on July 1, Miller's first Sunday, attendance was 133, which is the highest attendance in years that the church has seen, not including Christmas Eve services and Easter Services. Then, on Miller's second Sunday, attendance was still over 100. "The attendance the past two weeks has amazed me. I know that a lot of people have just come out to see the "new guy", but I hope they will continue to attend Sunday services. To put the attendance in perspective, normal average Sunday attendance at St. Paul's in June and July is around 60 to 65 people because a lot of people in this are flee to the beach on the weekends. So to have attendance over 100 at this time of year is amazing for this church. I can't wait to see what the fall attendance will be which is traditionally when attendance goes back up."

Miller, age 34 and originally from Bristol, Virginia is a 1991 graduate of Virginia High School. He attended King College in Bristol, Tennessee where he earned a B.A. in Mathematics in 1995. He then worked in the secular world for a number of years before attending seminary at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia where he graduated in 2005. He and his family then moved to Wichita, Kansas where he served as Assistant Rector at St. James. Miller also served as the Executive Director of the St. James After School Program, a non-profit program that taught choral music to at-risk elementary school children. Over the last two years, Miller helped to grow the After School Program from an outreach program with a $20,000 budget to a 501(c) 3 non-profit corporation with an annual budget of almost $90,000 with one full-time staff member, one part-time staff member, and more than 10 volunteers.

When asked what he thought of being in North Carolina, Miller said, "It is like coming home. Being from Bristol, I vacationed a lot in the mountains of North Carolina growing up and now, my wife and kids like to go there for our vacations. So being back in the southeast United States is great. The folks at St. Paul's really have made my family and I feel at home. I feel as if I have known them forever."

When asked what comes next after St. Paul's, Miller responded, "Retirement? I have always felt that I have been called to small church ministry and that is where I am. I am encouraged by the past ministry and excited about the future ministry of St. Paul's. I have 38 years until I will be forced to retire, so let's talk again at that point."

St. Paul's Episcopal Church is one of over 80 parishes in the Diocese of North Carolina. The address is 218 South Second Street, Smithfield, NC 27577. Please know that you are welcome to attend a service or two at St. Paul's. Services are on Sundays at 8:00 am and 11:00 am with Sunday School at 10:00 am.