The Diocese of East Tennessee is excited to announce that the Rev. Ashton Sims has been called as the next priest-in-charge at St. Martin of Tours Episcopal Church, Chattanooga. There he will serve both the parish and pre-school. Rev. Sims previously served as a curate at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Oak Ridge. We are excited for the future of Rev. Sims’ ministry at St. Martin’s.
Rev. Sims’ Letter to St. Martin’s
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
Hello St. Martin’s! For those of you whom I have not met, I am Fr. Ashton Sims, and here in about a month’s time I will be joining you all as St. Martin’s next Priest-in-Charge. I am certain that you have heard some about me from Jeanie, but I wanted to take an opportunity to briefly introduce myself.
Though I was born in New Jersey, I grew up in Decatur, Alabama and attended the University of Alabama (sorry Vols fans) where I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history and religious studies. It was at Canterbury Chapel in Tuscaloosa that I joined the Episcopal Church in 2013, and it was there that I first began to seriously explore the call to the priesthood. However, what is most important is that Canterbury is where I met my wife Anna, and where we were wed almost seven years ago.
After college I attended the School of Theology at Sewanee where I discovered a love of the works of Thomas Aquinas and J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as a deep appreciation of the riches of the Daily Office. Additionally, I was a recipient of a Griffin Fellowship which granted me the opportunity to study at St. George’s College in Jerusalem during Holy Week of 2019. After graduation I moved to Knoxville where I completed a chaplain residency at UT Medical Center, which was in addition to my internship at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and after my residency I spent some time as a nursing technician on UT’s neuro unit during my discernment in East Tennessee.
I will be coming to you directly from St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Oak Ridge where I have served as Assistant to the Rector since September of 2021. It, too, is a church that has undergone unique challenges in the last few years, and I feel very blessed to have begun my ministry in such an active and resilient parish. In fact, it is precisely those qualities that first drew me to St. Martin’s, and it was interacting with your vestry that sealed the deal. I am excited about where God will lead us in this new chapter and partnership, and I am confident it will be somewhere good.
My “churchy” passions in ministry are liturgy, biblical studies, formation, and the Christian monastic/mystical tradition. And as far as personal interests are concerned, i.e. the man behind the collar, I have been a lifelong gamer, a somewhat new amateur runner, and an avid reader of fantasy and science-fiction literature. I have also played with the same Dungeons and Dragons group for the last six years, so if you know of anyone looking for a player, I am all ears.
Anna and I share a mutual love of travel, lazy mornings, giving our cat Thecla treats, and taking our dog Pip anywhere we can get away with it. Above all, we are ecstatic to begin this next stage of our life and ministry with you all, and we look forward to officially joining you in August.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Ashton