Who We Are >> Our Staff >> Dr. Andrew Chaney

Pastor

Andrew began his ministry at the First Presbyterian Church of Greenwood in January 2021. He and his wife Christine have three children, Luke, Caroline, and Anderson. Christine works at Regions Bank as a Trust Relationship Specialist.

Luke works for the government in Washington, DC. Caroline is a freshman at Mississippi State University in the Shackouls Honors College. Anderson is a high school junior at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science.

Andrew was born in Princeton, New Jersey, where he went to seminary. He grew up in Livingston, Alabama, where his father, Rev. Dr. Burnell Chaney, served the First Presbyterian Church of Livingston, Alabama, for 23 years.

There is a legacy of ministry in the Chaney family - his father and grandfather were ministers and his mother, Patsy, is an ordained Presbyterian minister.

A lifelong learner, Andrew earned a Ph.D. in Theology in December 2022, completing coursework at the Oxford University Theology Summer School in Oxford, England, over several summers. He earned a B.A. from Rhodes College; an M.L.S. from the University of Tennessee; an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary; and a D.Min. from Columbia Theological Seminary.

He has served pastorates in the Lowcountry of South Carolina on Hilton Head Island, and Beaufort; on the north shore of Chicago in Kenilworth, Illinois; and in Springfield, Missouri, before being called to the Mississippi Delta town of Greenwood.

Besides preaching and pastoring, Andrew has a passion for studying and teaching theology. He served as a delegate at the Logos Institute for Analytic and Exegetical Theology at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. He enjoys the writings of C. S. Lewis and has spent time studying as Scholar in Residence at the home of Lewis, the Kilns, in Oxford, England. Princeton Theological Seminary recognized Andrew as a Mills Scholar in Parish Ministry.

Andrew encourages people to connect with God in prayer and to center their lives upon God’s presence. While serving as Guest Chaplain to the US Congress, he has opened the House of Representatives and Senate in prayer four times. His leadership includes prayer breakfasts, university events, and honoring leaders such as astronaut Captain James Lovell with the Abraham Lincoln Leadership Prize.

Pilgrimage has been an important theme in his ministry. He has led pilgrimages to the Holy Land and United Kingdom. He has also done international mission with his wife Christine and two sons as a guest preacher with the Outreach Foundation’s mission effort in Liverpool, England. In rural Nicaragua, he was part of the Rainbow Network’s efforts to build homes and establish medical facilities and schools.

Andrew encourages people to expand their faith by putting it into action, whether it is learning in a small group or Bible study, teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir, volunteering with youth, serving at the community food kitchen, spending time in prayer and worship, or visiting the sick or homebound.

I would like to welcome you into the fellowship of First Presbyterian Church and the new life that Christ offers. I challenge you to hear God’s Word and the grace-filled message of God’s loving-kindness in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. – Rev. Andrew Chaney