Our Team
Jane Herring
Reverend
Rev. Jane Herring is a second career pastor, having taught college literature classes for many years at the University of Memphis and the University of Davenport. She completed a residency in Clinical Pastoral Education at the Veterans’ Administration and first served as a hospital and hospice chaplain until being called as the installed pastor at Normandy Presbyterian Church, later adding a second charge to her call as the temporary supply pastor for Belfast Presbyterian Church.
Jane is a writer and retreat leader as well, interested in spiritual disciplines such as prayer and meditation. Jane believes deeply in the healing power of spiritual practices as life-giving and transformative tools to support us in our lifelong journeys of faith in Christ. She is a writer for Upper Room Books and author of One Day I Wrote Back: Interacting with Scripture through Creative Writing, as well as numerous articles and contributions to the daily devotional publication Disciplines.
Jane earned her Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt University Divinity School in 2012 and was ordained right here at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in 2014(followed by an amazing reception!). She lives in Franklin, TN with her husband Stan and their daughter Annie.
Jane loves reading, walking in nature, pen and paper, and just about any kind of craft or art project. The great joy of her life – besides her family – has been receiving a theological education and getting to be a pastor: it has been a dream come true. Jane is grateful for the possibility of getting to live into what God has planned for Emmanuel and for the chance to worship and grow and “do church” with the faithful people that call EPC their church home.
Check out Jane’s book here:
https://www.amazon.com/One-Day-Wrote-Back Interacting/dp/0835813754
Church Staff
Faith Hanchey: Director of Children’s Education
John Sevier: Cantor & Director of Music
Claire Cope: Church Pianist
Ruling Elders: Session Members
Greg Burlison
John Denton
Jan Russell
Terry Denton
John Sevier
Ginia Wood
The Session of EPC
The session is the governing body of the church. The members of the session are the pastor and ruling elders. Presbyterians sometimes refer to their pastor as a teaching elder and congregants who serve on session as ruling elders. Each elder is head of a committee that oversees some part of the mission and work of the church. We elect new elders each year, and each elder service serves a term of three years.
Clerk of Session
The person who takes minutes for each session meeting and maintains the church’s ledger of membership, births, baptisms, deaths and elders is called the Clerk of Session. File (not sure what this is supposed to say) it is the pastor of each congregation who is the moderator of the session, the clerk of session Is a partner to the minister and often speaks on behalf of the congregation and elders in offering words of guidance and encouragement. The clerk of session is key to marshaling resources and support to implement the guidance of the pastor and the vision and leadership of the session.