Vanderbilt Divinity School is pleased to announce its practitioner-in-residence program. Each semester, the Divinity School will invite a member of the clergy, a nonprofit leader or a social justice activist to be “in residence” with its community. The PIR host sessions about their work, mentor students and invite them to visit their organization or congregation. Students will be exposed to experts who model the interdisciplinary, interfaith and justice work that is at the core of the Vanderbilt Divinity School community.
“When I first started teaching, most of my students were headed into congregational ministry,” Dean Yolanda Pierce said. “Today, students are finding many more pathways to live out their vocational calling. The practitioner-in-residence program will help students better discern the many doors their VDS degree can open while strengthening relationships with community partners.”
VDS is excited that Rev. Lindsey Krinks, MTS ’13, has agreed to serve as the inaugural practitioner-in-residence. Krinks is a street chaplain, activist, nonprofit leader and cofounder of Open Table Nashville, a nationally acclaimed interfaith homeless outreach nonprofit. For more than 15 years, Krinks has worked on the less visible side of Nashville—the streets, encampments, jails, slums and underpasses—while also collaborating with faith leaders, community organizers and public officials to make the city more hospitable and just. She appeared in Saint Cloud Hill, a documentary about Nashville’s largest homeless camp in 2019, and has been featured in dozens of Nashville news stories. Her book, Praying with Our Feet: Pursuing Justice & Healing on the Streets, is widely available.
“I was honored to be approached about this role and am excited to return to VDS,” Krinks said. Speaking about her time at Vanderbilt, she noted, “There was this rich, transformative experience at the Divinity School in which our work on the ground was informing our theological education and our classes were informing our social justice work.”
The practitioner-in-residence program will kick off with a competition among Divinity School faculty, staff and students through the month of January to see who can collect the most items for Open Table Nashville’s winter supply list. The nonprofit delivers blankets, sleeping bags, hand warmers, thermal socks and protein shakes to Nashville’s most vulnerable population.
Events with Rev. Krinks
On Thursday, Jan. 30, the Divinity School will host a lunch and learn with Krinks, who will share her unconventional path to street chaplaincy. The event will be at 11 a.m. in the Divinity reading room. RSVP required and available at: https://forms.office.com/r/4b4zPzewfD.
On Tuesday, Feb. 18, students may accompany Open Table Nashville staff to their Day on the Hill for Housing and Homelessness. Students will see advocacy in action and meet with legislators.
After a March 27 conversation between Provost C. Cybele Raver and Matthew Desmond on poverty, Vanderbilt Divinity School will host a Convening on Housing Justice on Friday, March 28. Conversation
partners will include Krinks, community activists, local government officials and multiple Vanderbilt professors whose research centers on homelessness.
The semester’s events will wrap up on Thursday, April 17, when Krinks hosts “Downtown Urban Immersion: Learning to See the City from Below,” where she walks with students through homeless encampments, visits with their residents and talks more about her work. This excursion is a firsthand look at the suffering on Nashville’s streets.
Vanderbilt Divinity School extends a warm welcome to all Vanderbilt faculty, staff and students who wish to participate. These events featuring Rev. Krinks will be shared via the University Calendar and will also be open to the greater Nashville community. For more information, email Cheryl Williams, director of administration (cheryl.a.williams@vanderbilt.edu).