Staff

our staff:

Rev. Len Carrell

Pastor, Head of Staff

Rev. Len Carrell came to the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, Tennessee in the spring of 2019 as his second call in his four years of ordained ministry. Len comes to Tennessee after serving Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas as the Associate Pastor of Pastoral Care. Some of Len's passions for ministry are to answer every day why the church matters, to give life and heart to stories simply told, and to be passionate and compassionate about incarnational ministry in building relationships and community.

His journey, to seek a call in ministry, has been filled with twists and turns. He often says that he was raised in Texas, but grew up in New York City, as he moved to New York two weeks shy of his twenty-first birthday to pursue his passion for acting and the theater. Over the next twenty years, he studied and worked as a professional actor, started a business representing artists in the textile design industry, and became engaged in the work of the church. His deep involvement at The Brick Presbyterian Church, which is the church his wife grew up in, led to his studies at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where he earned a Master of Divinity. Len believes that his unique set of gifts and experiences acquired solely from God, along with the many years of hands-on learning in the church, theater, seminary, and business world, have prepared him for this moment of God’s claim on my life and has been a true calling of what Christ says to us all, "follow me.”

Len and his wife Tanisha have been married since 2001 and they have a one teenage daughter Caitlin who keeps them on their toes.