The Rev. Jess Bennett
Jess has served on Ascension’s staff team, alongside her husband Josh, since 2020. Jess and Josh met during their years at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, but Jess is a born-and-raised Pittsburgher, and returned here to complete her M.Div. at Trinity School for Ministry.
During their three years in seminary, Jess and Josh served on the youth ministry staff at Allegheny Center Alliance Church (where Jess was raised and baptized!) and welcomed two children along the way, Charlie (2018) and Ruth (2019). It was during her years in seminary that Jess began to discern a call to pastoral ministry, and she was ordained to the priesthood alongside Josh here at Ascension in January 2023.
Among many different aspects of ministry at Ascension, Jess spends her time welcoming and integrating newcomers into the life of our church, as well as leading Ascension’s College-Age ministry. She believes to the core of her being that our God is alive and present with us, in both the significant moments and the mundane — getting to bear witness continually to Christ’s work in the lives of those in our parish is a dream job.
The Rev. Jess Bennett, Curate (College-Age and Newcomer Ministries)