Greetings and welcome! So glad you could make your way over to my corner of the Internet. My name is Jessica Dennis and I recently stepped down from full-time parish ministry to stay at home with my baby girl. This blog, Leaven in the World, is my small way of leaving the world a little better than I found it (in addition to raising a human being, of course). I am passionate about all things God-/faith-/ministry-related, and so I’m hoping that my penchant for gathering resources and equipping people with the tools to fulfill God’s call on their lives will benefit at least one person out there.

As my for my street cred, I hold a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies (liturgical ministry focus, Integrating Paper: Liturgical Inculturation: A Reflection on the Filipino-American Context) from the Washington Theological Union, undergraduate theology coursework through the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of California, Davis. I most recently served as the Director of Christian Formation at a large 11,000-member Catholic parish in northern Virginia and have also had the pleasure of teaching Religion (Hebrew Scriptures, Jesus & Church, and Christian Morality) at a Catholic high school in Washington, DC. I’ve been volunteering with parishes since I was a teenager, and my adventures have included music ministry in northern California and the DC metro area and ministry to youth and young adults in northern California (Diocese of Sacramento).

To give you some insight into where I’m coming from with regards to all things related to faith formation, I’ve provided my philosophy here.