Rev. Virginia (Jenny) BARNES was born and raised in North Carolina.  She held different jobs after High School until God’s nudging and her believing that God’s work was her calling in life.

Pastor Jenny enrolled at Georgia State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy graduating in 1988.  After graduation she worked for one year as a teacher’s assistance in Systematic Theology at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (LTSS) in Columbia, SC.  During this period she earned a Master of Arts in Religion from LTSS in 1991.  Pastor Jenny then went on to complete her Masters of Divinity at the Seminary graduating in 1995.  While studying for her Master of Divinity Pastor Jenny studied at Emory University, Columbia Seminary and the Inter-denominal Theological Center.  Pastor Jenny was officially ordained on 17 February 1996.

Pastor Jenny’s first call was to St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Jacksonville, FL were she served almost five years.  First as an Associate Pastor and later as the solo Pastor.  In 2000 Pastor Jenny accepted a call as Pastor of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ormond Beach, FL.  In 2009 Pastor Jenny took a leave of absents until she accepted the call to serve as our Pastor at Christ Lutheran Church, Fairfield Glade TN.

  Although never married, she bravely and lovingly took on the responsibility of parenthood when she adopted her teenage foster son, Joshua, who now is in his mid-twenties and serving in the U.S. Army. Pastor Jenny says that although single, she is “still hoping God will bless her with a husband”.

Pastor Jenny has a sincere passion for both preaching and teaching. She is an active Via De Cristo member and thoroughly endorses the Stephen Ministry Program and the many outreach programs here at Christ Lutheran.  She believes in members being active within the church and feels a heavy responsibility to personally know her congregation.