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Born in West Point, New York, to a career army officer, Chris has lived all over the country, but he would tell you that Tennessee is his geographic average and the home of his favorite kinfolk.
Following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps, Chris received an appointment to the United States Military Academy, but he suffered a soccer injury. After recovering from eye surgery at Walter Reed, he finished the year and transferred to The University of the South at Sewanee, where he majored in soccer, minored in academics, and completed a B.A. in Third World Studies with a concentration in Latin America, focusing on political science and development economics. During his sophomore year, Chris met and fell in love with Elizabeth Hesselink of Lookout Mountain, Georgia, and they married on December 9, 1995 in All Saints Chapel at Sewanee where their first date had been on St. Valentine’s Day, 1993.
After graduating, Chris served with Young Life for three years before accepting a job with Crossroads Missions, which enabled him to pursue his interest in Latin America and development. From January 1999 to August 2001, he traveled to Mexico a dozen times, leading worship, speaking to groups of American Christians, and building houses for the poor in Mexico. This ministry laid a foundation for Chris’s role as Director of Hispanic Ministry for the Salvation Army in Chattanooga from late 2001 to 2003.
Chris left the Salvation Army to enter the Masters of Divinity program at Virginia Theological Seminary. While there, he served as a worship leader at the Falls Church and All Saints Chevy Chase, also assisting with their Alpha Course ministries. At All Saints, he had the opportunity to work alongside the 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, the first Archbishop to openly support Arsenal Football Club. This scandal threatened to tear the fabric of the Anglican Communion, but Chris was ecstatic to work with an Arsenal fan. Chris finished the three-year program at VTS in May of 2006, and on November 11, 2006, he was ordained a priest in the Anglican Mission.
That same year, Chris, Elizabeth, and six other couples planted Apostles Anglican Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. In four years, the Lord has done amazing work: Apostles has grown to 150 members, participated in many community-building projects, initiated campus ministries at West High School and U.T., planted an urban church called Old North Abbey, and partnered with development projects in Rwanda. As an Anglican Mission Network Leader, Chris assists the bishop, the Rt. Rev. Todd Hunter, in the oversight of nine church plants and ministries in Middle and East Tennessee.
Chris and Elizabeth have three children: Anne Elise, 8, Will, 6, and James, 3. Fortunately, all have their mother’s looks and brains while showing some signs of promise on the soccer field.
An anecdote proves the irony of Chris’s Anglican ordination. During the mid-17th century, the Church of England squatted on the Bogardus family farm on Manhattan Island where Broadway and West Broadway now come together; this church was later moved to Wall Street and is known as Trinity. Chris is a lineal descendant of the Bogardus heir who was illegally cut out of the original transaction in the 1660s. The last lawsuit regarding the property was finally thrown out of court in 1905, not because the case lacked merit but because the lawyers had profited for 170 years off of the never-ending lawsuit and associated legal fees.
Chris welcomes comparisons to Chandler Bing, the beloved Friends character played by Matthew Perry, and any opportunity to visit Rwanda, Uganda, and England.
Local writer Austin Church wrote this biography. You can check out gu.e, his humor blog, or Bright Newt, his marketing and copywriting business.
