Affiliated Chaplains: Religious Life

Religious Ministries

A staff of chaplains represents several faiths on campus including Baptist, Episcopal, Jewish (Chabad & Hillel), Muslim, Presbyterian, Reformed University Fellowship, Catholic, and United Methodist. Each chaplain or director provides worship opportunities, counseling, study, action, retreats, and fellowship for his/her constituency. Together the staff of chaplains cooperates with the Office of Religious Life in offering programs of ecumenical and interfaith interest to the Vanderbilt community.

Affiliated Chaplains and Directors

Awadh A. Binhazim, Ph.D.
University Muslim Chaplain
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Awadh Amir Binhazim was born and raised in Kenya and was educated in Saudi Arabia, Kenya, and The University of Georgia; he is currently professor of pathology at Meharry Medical College. Professor Binhazim’s interest in Islam is in comparative religion studies and contemporary subjects such as the engagement between Islam and the west, education in the Muslim world, tackling the issue of poverty in Muslim communities, and intellectual and economic empowerment of Muslim youth. During the period of 1999 – 2006, Professor Binhazim was elected to the Board of Directors of the Islamic Center of Nashville, TN and served in various roles including Secretary, Director of Public Relations, and Outreach and as Vice President. His extensive work on Islam and Muslims paved the way to the formation of Olive Tree Education; an Islamic outreach and education awareness group that he founded and currently serves as its president. During 2002 – 2008, he was appointed by Mayor Bill Purcell to serve as Commissioner in the Metro Action Commission of Nashville.

Father John Sims Baker
University Catholic Chaplain
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The Vanderbilt Catholic Community exists to glorify God primarily by serving the sacramental and spirtual needs of the Catholic students of the university. In fulfilling this end, the traditions of the Church in worship, spirituality, and the intellectual life are the sources. Fr. John Sims Baker, a priest of the Diocese of Nashville, is the chaplain, who coordinates the spiritual activities and serves the Catholic student organization.

Rev. William S. Croft

Reformed University Fellowship
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Stacey is a Texan who moved to Nashville from Jackson, Mississippi, where he received his degree from Reformed Theological Seminary. It was during his time in undergrad at Baylor University when Stacey and his wife Megan met on a blind date. After graduation he was the youth director at Christ the King Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Houston for two years. Stacey went on to be the youth director at Park Cities Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Dallas before moving to Jackson to finish seminary. Ministering to college students has been a love for Stacey and Megan for quite some time. They are thankful to be on the campus of Vanderbilt doing what the Lord has truly called them to do.

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Ari Dubin, M.A.

Executive Director, Ben Schulman Center for Jewish Life
Vanderbilt Hillel
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The Ben Schulman Center for Jewish Life on campus is a vibrant community that provides many opportunities for Jewish experience - spiritual, intellectual, social, communal. We are committed to the diversity of religious expression within Judaism, and we embrace and seek interfaith understanding among the many traditions represented at Vanderbilt.

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J. Mark Forrester, D.Min.
United Methodist Campus Minister
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The Reverend Mark Forrester is a marathon-running, Monty-Python-loving, gourmet-cooking, deep-thinking religious leader. A native of Nashville, Mark is a graduate of Vanderbilt Divinity School (M. Div. 1983), and received a Doctor of Ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2005. Ordained as a United Methodist clergyperson (Tennessee Conference) in 1983, he spent eight years as a "local church" pastor. In 1991 Mark went to Austin Peay State University as the campus minister, and finally made his way back to Nashville to direct the Wesley/Canterbury Fellowship at Vandy. He has a wife, Elaine, and two daughters, Emily and Shelley. Mark has been the campus pastor for Wesley/Canterbury since 1993 and he welcomes all students who come to St. Augustine's Chapel's ecumenical ministry.

Jennifer Fouse, M.Div.
Presbyterian Campus Minister
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Presbyterian Student Fellowship (PSF) is a ministry of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and has been an active part of the Vanderbilt Community for over eighty years. Realizing that we all have questions about our faith in God, we invite you to come and explore your faith with us as we worship, learn, grow, serve, hang out and have fun together. This year's theme is Stories We Live By. Come join us on Tuesdays at 6:00 for worship in St. Augustine's Chapel. Immediately following worship (7:00) is a FREE home-cooked meal, provided by a local church. Hope to see you at PSF!

Rabbi Shlomo Rothstein
Campus Chabad Chaplain
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Facebook Page!

Chabad representative to Vanderbilt University, Rabbi Shlomo and his wife Nechama Rothstein, with their son, Menachem Mendel.

Rabbi Rothstein was raised in Baltimore, MD, the oldest of eight children. He traveled the world for school, living in Chicago, Montreal, Melbourne, and New York before landing in Tennessee.

The Chabad Jewish Student Center at Vanderbilt University is based on the ideology of Chabad and fueled by the inspiration and teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, which have at their foundation the encompassing mitzvah “to love every Jew as one loves himself” and the mandate to concretize that love with Acts of Kindness and Mitzvahs. It's our belief that every individual Jew has an indispensable contribution to make to the totality of the Jewish people. Chabad welcomes all Jews at their own pace and comfort level through innovative educational programs in all areas of Jewish life.

Becca Stevens, M.Div.
University Episcopal Chaplain
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St. Augustine's Chapel on the Vanderbilt Campus is a vibrant and hard working community of people that consists of students, faculty, and staff as well as about 200 people from the greater Nashville Community. We provide opportunities for worship, fellowship, learning and outreach to anyone who is interested.
Thistle Farms

Thom Thornton
Baptist Campus Chaplain
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BaptistCollegiateMinistry

Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) exists to help students and the university community know God through Bible study, worship and discipleship and to make God known through fellowship, community ministry, outreach and missions. Come join us on Thursday nights at 8:15 at the BCM for our weekly worship/Bible study or just stop by the building. Our doors are always open to you. Grace and peace.

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Portrait of St. Augustine, c. 1472 by Antonello da Messinal