The Rev. Dr. James L. Pahl, Jr.
Born in Winston Salem, North Carolina, in 1971, Jamie Pahl was the first of six children born to Larkin and Alice Pahl. He grew up in Raleigh and graduated from North Carolina (NC) State University in 1995. Jamie’s spiritual home was St. Michael’s Episcopal Church where he was involved in the youth group, choir, mission work, and served as an acolyte. St. Michael’s was pivotal in his faith development, and it was the church that launched him into ministry in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Jamie met his wife, Susie, at NC State and they were married in 1996. Currently, Susie is the assistant to the financial director/CPA at Christ Episcopal Church, Raleigh. She hopes to continue her work remotely for as long as it is possible. They have four children: twin boys — Henry and Jonah, Caroline, and Eliza.
Before ministry, Jamie worked briefly with his father in some investment opportunities overseas, and later at Quintiles in the Research Triangle Park, NC area. He was involved in pharmaceutical drug studies, and specifically the budgeting and planning process. Part-time mission work to Guatemala was a big part of his ministry for many years, serving several orphanages.
Jamie attended Virginia Theological Seminary where he earned the Master in Divinity degree in 2005. Bishop Michael Curry ordained him as Deacon in 2005, and he was ordained as Priest by Bishop Clifton Daniel on behalf of Bishop Curry in January 2006. His first call to ordained ministry was as Assistant Rector at St. James Parish, Wilmington, NC in the Diocese of East Carolina. Following this formative time, Jamie was elected and called as Rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Oxford, NC in the Diocese of North Carolina, where he served for over eleven years. In 2013, while in Oxford, Jamie began work on a Doctor of Ministry degree from Virginia Seminary. He successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in 2017, going on to earn the degree in 2018. His thesis is titled, “Community Backyard Relationship-Building: A Partnership between the Church, Government, and Local Stakeholders.” He served for many years on several community and diocesan boards that focus on the faith community, government, and local stakeholders partnering to address numerous issues. In 2019, Jamie was recruited back to his home parish of St. Michael’s, Raleigh, a corporate-sized church, to serve as Vicar in the senior assisting clergy role. This reflected his many years as a priest, but also as rector of a parish. His focus was on staff and administration, adult and children’s Christian formation, parish life, and mission and outreach among other ministries.
In addition to his ministry, Jamie is a guitarist/singer/songwriter who loves spending time out West, in the mountains, and on the coast, playing tennis, and collecting historical manuscripts and artifacts. He also very much enjoys time with family and friends. He has a real call to lead pilgrimages to the Holy Land, having completed two life-changing pilgrimages in 2018 and 2022.
