B. Eric Rieger, was appointed to Jones Memorial UMC at the Holston Annual Conference, 2015. He grew up in North Knox County and graduated from Powell High School. He attended East Tennessee State University; upon graduation, he immediately began seminary at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Bannockburn/Deerfield, Illinois (a far-north suburb of Chicago). Afterwards, Mr. Rieger worked as a campus minister and ran a coffee house at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Mr.
Rieger returned to graduate school at the University of Tennessee and earned a degree in Counseling Psychology and has worked as a family coordinator in a treatment center, counseled men, court-ordered, for Domestic Violence, taught psychology at Walter's State Community College as an adjunct professor, and ran a private counseling practice.
Mr. Rieger's roots are Methodist—he was baptized as an infant at Powell UMC and worked as a camp counselor for two summers at Wesley Woods. Mr. Rieger became a pastor in the United Methodist Church in 1996. He did some post graduate work at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Mr. Rieger’s passions and skills for ministry include Spiritual Transformation; he has completed a two-year experience and earned a Certificate of Spiritual Transformation with Ruth Haley Barton and the Transforming Center in Chicago.
He has been working on his Doctor of Ministry degree in Spiritual Transformation through a partnership program of The Transforming Center and Northern Seminary. His other passions and skills for ministry include sharing the love of Christ within and participation in the immediate community in concrete ways, prayer, teaching, preaching, healing and recovery work.
Mr. Rieger enjoys the outdoors: loves to backpack, fly fish, rock climb (been a very long time), go spelunking, camp, snorkel, and travel (wants much more of this). He also loves to read, drink good coffee and have good conversation. Mr. Rieger joyfully states that Christ is the center of his life. Mr. Rieger has five adult children and two grandchildren who all live in the Southeast.