Pastor Brett Ian Jenkins, STS

Pastor Brett Ian Jenkins, STS

Born on October 3, 1969 in Trenton, New Jersey, Pr. Brett spent most of his young life in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, outside of Hershey. He grew up largely outside the church, his parents ceasing to attend while he was in early elementary school. By the time he graduated high school, he was an atheist.

During college, he became convinced of God’s existence and began a spiritual quest to discover the truth about God. After carefully considering the truth claims of most of the world’s great religions, he began to read about the resurrection of Jesus. After reading many books on the subject, he became convinced of the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth and became a Christian. In 1995, during the first year of his marriage to his wife, Dr. Lisa Jenkins, he became a Lutheran after reading the Augsburg Confession and the Small Catechism.

He began serving in ministry in Spring of 1996 as youth minister at Zion Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He went on to serve Lazarus Lutheran Church in Maryland, Campus Ministry at Penn State, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Faith United Lutheran Church, Christ Hamilton United Lutheran Church, and Abundant Life Lutheran Church, all in Pennslyvania. 2020 marks the twenty fourth year of his service in the Church of Jesus Christ.

Pr. Brett’s ministry includes not only Holy Cross, but service to the larger Church.  He currently serves as the within the Atlantic Mission Region of the NALC as the Dean of the Northeast Mission District , has served as a board member of both Lutheran CORE and the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, and maintains the Faith Conservationist blogsite.

Pr. Brett is married to Dr. Lisa Davenport Jenkins, and they have two living children, Iain and Elizabeth. In addition to his calling within the ministry, Pr. Brett enjoys woodworking, fishing, playing his guitar, and talking with people about their faith questions.