Our Interim Priest - Fr. Rob Nichols

Welcoming the Rev. Dr. Robert Nichols

The Interim Search Committee and the Vestry are pleased to announce that Fr. Rob Nichols has accepted our offer of the position of Interim Rector.

Fr. Rob comes to us from Mobile, Alabama. He grew up Episcopalian in Jackson, Mississippi and graduated from Millsaps College in 1977. After some work experience and a brief experiment with law school, he attended Virginia Theological Seminary and received the M.Div. in 1988. He was ordained priest on 26 October 1989, the Feast of Alfred the Great.

Further studies led to a D. Min. from St. Luke’s Seminary (University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee) with an emphasis in Christian Education and Ethics. He also completed Interim Ministry training in 2003. He has served parishes in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas. He has also served as a hospital chaplain.

Fr. Rob’s family will not accompany him to Champaign-Urbana, but we hope to welcome them among us during his sojourn here. His wife, Diana, works for an advertising firm in Mobile; and they have two teenage daughters, Bess and Kate.

The agreement between Fr. Nichols and St. John the Divine is that he will serve us for one year, during which time we will complete a parish profile and search for a permanent rector.

These are the facts, but they don’t tell you much about the person. The Interim Search Committee was impressed by many things: Fr. Rob’s understanding of interim ministry; his forthrightness about how hard we will be working as we move toward the selection of a permanent rector; his sense of humor; and his commitment to his Christian vocation and to Christian education. When Carol Symes and Ruth Wene traveled to Mobile to meet with him in late August, those qualities that were apparent during the Search Committee’s telephone interview were even more apparent during our visit and conversations. Fr. Rob is energetic, open, and direct in his interactions with people. He is an engaging preacher and his presence at the Eucharist is prayerful and reverent.

He sent us this message to include:

“I am energized about being a part of St. John the Divine during this period of vacancy. The role of the interim is to be the clergy presence until such time as your permanent rector is called. This is an exciting time for your parish and I look forward to our time together. See you at Morning Prayer on Wednesday 21 September.”