Brian Lee Cole

Cole was born in Missouri and was educated at Murray State University in Kentucky, from which he graduated with a degree in business administration in 1989. He spent time employed with the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center in Berea, Kentucky. He also studied at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, from which he graduated with a Master of Divinity in 1992. In 2001 he also completed studies at Sewanee: The University of the South, where he focused on Anglican Church History. He also undertook further studies in Art and Prayer at the General Theological Seminary in 2006, and also Liturgics in Asheville, North Carolina between 2002 and 2005.[1] He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity in 2019, from the University of the South.

Cole was ordained priest in 2002 and served as vicar at Church of the Advocate in Asheville, North Carolina. In 2005 he then became sub-dean of the Cathedral of All Souls in Asheville, while in 2012 he accepted the position of rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Lexington, Kentucky.[2]

Cole was elected Bishop of East Tennessee on June 28, 2017, during the 33rd Annual diocesan Convention. He was then consecrated on December 2, 2017 at the Church of the Ascension in Knoxville, Tennessee by the Presiding Bishop Michael Curry.[3]