Started UPSem 2014: Rev. William Joseph “Joey” Haynes III (MDiv 2019)

  1. Started UPSem 2002: Rev. Lori Raible (MDiv 2006)
  2. Started UPSem 2003: Rev. Dr. Ophelia Garmon-Brown (MDiv 2008)
  3. Started UPSem 2004: Rev. Nadine Ellsworth-Moran (MDiv / MACE 2011)
  4. Started UPSem 2005: Rev. Noe Juarez-Loayza (MDiv 2010)
  5. Started UPSem 2006: Rev. Lorenzo Small (MDiv 2013)
  6. Started UPSem 2007: Rev. Ken Fuquay (MACE 2011 / MDiv 2015)
  7. Started UPSem 2008: Rev. Jonathan Davis (MDiv 2014) 
  8. Started UPSem 2009: Rev. British Hyrams (MDiv/MACE 2016)
  9. Started UPSem 2010: Rev. Charmaine Smith (MDiv 2017)
  10. Started UPSem 2011: Rev. Vikki Brogdon (MDiv 2016)
  11. Started UPSem 2012: Rev. Dr. Doug Harr (MDiv 2018)
  12. Started UPSem 2013: Martin Pruitt (MDiv 2018 / MACE 2019)
  13. Started UPSem 2014: Rev. William Joseph “Joey” Haynes III (MDiv 2019)
  14. Started UPSem 2015: Rev. Gail Henderson-Belsito (MDiv 2020)
  15. Started UPSem 2016: Rev. Eric Tang (MDiv 2021)
  16. Started UPSem 2017: Rev. Marina Luckhoo (pursuing MDiv)
  17. Started UPSem 2018: Jason Smith
  18. Started UPSem 2019: Ryan Atkinson
  19. Started UPSem 2020: Sedae Slaughter (pursuing MACE)
  20. Started UPSem 2021: Matt Wiedle (pursuing MDiv and MACE)

The following is part of a series of 20 profiles that represent each year that Charlotte has been enrolling students. 

Chaplain
Queens University of Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina

Born and reared in Monroe County, West Virginia, Rev. Joey Haynes (MDiv 2019) now calls Charlotte home. Proudly Baptist by heritage and ordination, Haynes left the state in the mid-2000s to study at Queens University, majoring in international studies with minors in Spanish and world religions. That study led him overseas after college working as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in South Korea. Back in the U.S., he worked at several local organizations that serve individuals with exceptionalities before enrolling at Union Presbyterian Seminary Charlotte.

Enrolling in seminary was a natural transition for Haynes, as he was ministering at Park Road Baptist Church with their youth when he decided to matriculate at UPSem Charlotte. Choosing UPSem Charlotte was made easier because of its location and affordability, an affordability made possible by generations of faithful donors and a creative funding plan set up in Charlotte. That plan, called the Matching Grant Program, divides the expense of seminary between three partners to fund a student’s tuition costs. Through the plan, a student covers a third of the cost, their sponsoring congregation covers a third, and the seminary covers the final third. As Haynes explains it, “Choosing Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte gave me the chance to remain in Charlotte. It also allowed me an affordable Master of Divinity.”

Entering seminary, Haynes was looking for an education that provided an opportunity to challenge himself and what he presumed true. “I felt that seminary would offer me the chance to better understand others more deeply and learn how to bring people together to grow, be vulnerable, experience discomfort, build bridges, and have authentic and meaningful conversations.” At UPSem Charlotte, he found not only challenging engagements and deep conversation partners but also a new network of friends. “I appreciated being in a small cohort of students who were journeying with me each Saturday. Being together with them for five years, I built lasting relationships with many people who did not share my same experiences, traditions, or background. These relationships helped me think and nurture my own spiritual life more deeply, better understanding the social inequities and injustices including my own privileges as a white male.” As Haynes reflects on his time in seminary, he concludes that UPSem Charlotte changed him and gave him an opportunity that might not otherwise have been available. “Seminary was extremely important for my own faith journey. My time at UPSem challenged me, nurtured me, and gave me the chance to fully realize my potential, as a child of God, to love and care for others as well as our world.”

Having returned to Queens University to serve as their chaplain, Haynes strives to use his seminary training and faithful passions to build interfaith coalitions at the university and in the broader Charlotte community. Ordained in the Alliance of Baptists tradition, Haynes and his wife live in Charlotte with their two cats, Harry and Ron, unapologetically named after the Harry Potter characters.