Why “Pulpiteer?”

Because I want to take an old fashioned word for preacher, one that sometimes is used negatively (if it is used at all) and turn it on its head, to make it a label one can be proud of. I want to be someone who takes the pulpit, and all that it symbolizes, seriously. I want to be someone who humbly, but skillfully, tells God’s story to a world that always needs to hear it again. When I step into a pulpit, I want to know what I’m doing and what I’m about.

My name is Kevin Morris and I am the rector of the Church of the Ascension in Rockville Centre, New York. Ascension is an Episcopal Church situated in a suburban community about 20 minutes outside of New York City on Long Island. Prior to coming to Ascension, I was the Director of Pastoral Care, Patient Relations and Volunteer Services at an acute care hospital affiliated with the Diocese of Newark, New Jersey. At the same time, I was also serving as a long-term supply priest at Christ Church in Harrison, New Jersey. Before that I served for three years as Staff Chaplain in a Florida Hospice where I provided spiritual care to terminally ill patients and their families. I was ordained in the Episcopal Church as a deacon at Trinity Cathedral in Miami, Florida and ordained priest at The Church of The Resurrection, New York New York, both in 2004.

I was not always an Episcopalian or even an active church-goer. I grew up in a Southern Baptist family, was baptized in a Congregationalist church, and finally found my way to the Episcopal Church through a college campus ministry.

I received a Batchelor of Arts from the University of Miami where I graduated with a double major in English Literature and History and spent a summer studying at Oxford University, UK (where I first really encountered and fell in love with the Anglican tradition). I completed studies for my Master of Divinity at Yale University. In 2022 I was granted the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Preaching from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. My thesis on mysticism in the parochial sermons of John Keble may be read here.

In addition to my duties as a parish priest, I also serve as a regional dean, and as a trainer in congregational development with the Diocesan Church Development Institute. My own sermons will not normally be posted on this site, but may be read and viewed on my other blog, inwardlydigest.org.

In my home life, I enjoy traveling, and probably most of all, cooking. I am married to Keith Voets, who is also an Episcopal priest and the rector of the Church of Saint Alban the Martyr in Queens, New York. In June of 2022, we welcomed our son, Robert David (Robbie) into the world, and yes, having a toddler is an added challenge when you are trying to carve out time to write a good sermon (but it’s so worth it!).