Reeves returns to Pine Bluff, leads Trinity Episcopal as priest-in-charge

When Jess Reeves left Pine Bluff in May of 1984, he never imagined that he would someday be back, leading the church in which he grew up.

He left for three months of Greek language study before enrolling in the three-year program at Trinity Episcopal School for the Ministry, a seminary in Pittsburgh, Pa.

He described the change in surroundings as startling. Arkansas was like a painting on velvet that one could readily find at S.H. Kress – lush and green, bursting with life. Pittsburgh was gray – the buildings were gray, as were the streets, the sky, just all the surroundings.

“This looks like hell,” he said he thought. It was quite a contrast to the natural beauty of Arkansas.

Some might say it was inevitable that Reeves would one day return to his home. It was just a matter of timing. His name was mentioned by several search committees, according to Tommy Palmer, chairman of the search committee that called Reeves to his present position as priest-in-charge at Trinity Episcopal Church. Every other time, he was not available. This time he was.

He came to Pine Bluff from the Church of the Messiah at Pulaski, Tenn. His first service at Trinity Church was on Jan. 1, 2023.

A priest-in-charge has the same responsibilities as a parish rector, but under contract to serve a parish for a set length of time. In Reeves’ case, two years, because at the end of the contract, he will have reached the mandatory retirement age of 72. However, he could continue as a regular supply by special contract with the Vestry and approval of the diocesan bishop, providing special permission to extend with virtually the same responsibilities, but with special permission, and often less than full-time.

Reeves said that he knew from the time he was a child that he wanted to be a priest; however, he never shared this with another person. It all came together – what he called “congealed” – during an Easter Sunday service in his late 20s. He went immediately to the rector, the late Rev. Sherman Smothers, who was the first person with whom he shared his desire to enter the ministry.

He and Smothers researched seminaries and Smothers said that he felt the one in Pittsburgh was a good fit for Reeves.

Reeves, a “cradle Episcopalian,” was born into Trinity Church. The family of his mother, the late Ann Collier Reeves, had been communicants of Trinity since the mid-19th Century. His father, the late Jesse L. Reeves Sr., had been a Methodist until his marriage when he followed his bride into the Episcopal Church.

Reeves attended Pine Bluff schools, even a year at Trinity Day School, until he was 14 and like his brother, Jay Reeves, 10 years his senior and an attorney in Lynchburg, Va., he went away to boarding school in Virginia.

This was followed by an undergraduate degree with a major in history from Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Va., He spent three years in law school at Southern Methodist University at Dallas, which he did not complete. Then he went to California “seeking gold.” He had what he described as a “grand time.” He was still immature in his spirituality thinking “that if it makes me happy, it makes God happy.”

After he returned to Pine Bluff, he ran Long’s Book Store, which his family had purchased.

His journey to the priesthood was not one blazing turn around point, but three stages. As he looks back now, he said, “I see it got me where I wanted to be.”

After the seminary, he spent four years in Wyoming, where he was in parishes with only one priest. He said that he thought he needed more opportunities to train to take a step back and take the opportunity to learn, which took him to Potomac, Md., in suburban Washington, D.C. He has also served churches in Florida and Connecticut, as well as three in Tennessee, at Columbia, University of the South at Swanee and his most recent pastorate at Pulaski.

Since his arrival, Trinity has experienced three major losses: Funding from the rental of the Trinity Day School building, that was rented by a charter school that has now moved to another location. And then there were the deaths of two parishioners – the church’s attorney, Bill Bridgforth; and the treasurer, John Wellenberger.

But the parish is also experiencing some bright spots, as well. There have been several exceptionally generous contributions to insure the beautification and maintenance of the columbarium and parish grounds.

“I am very much encouraged by the ministry to shut-ins, of which we have a number in our parish,” Reeves said.

And Reeves is reintroducing a longstanding tradition at Trinity – Christmas Eve “Midnight Mass,” after an absence of several years. Actually the service is at 10:30 p.m. with a Chancel Choir concert at 10 p.m. followed by the mass.

Two longtime parishioners, Cindy Forney Forestiere and Christie Paschal Barron, expressed their pleasure at Reeves’ decision.

“I couldn’t be more excited,” Forestiere said. “For the first time in years, sadly, I don’t even know how many years, I will be in church at what we have always called ‘Midnight Mass,’ and I couldn’t be more excited. To me, it was always my Christmas present to myself, a time to kneel and pray with the saints, and acknowledge that Jesus, God’s gift to us, is the most important thing in this world.”

Although Barron faced challenges, she is looking forward to the service.

“I have had a rough year with two surgeries and my granddaughter’s death,” Barron said. “I am looking so forward to midnight service. I cried when I heard we were having it; It is the most special service to bring Christmas on even when you wish you could skip the holidays this year.”