Louisa Watkins Umphres is excited to
learn and grow in ministry at BMPC.  

Louisa grew up in Texas and, despite many years away, remains a Texan at heart. She first left Texas to attend Duke University in North Carolina, where she earned her BA in history. Having begun to sense God’s pull toward service in her life, Louisa moved to Central America post-graduation. There, Louisa lived in Tegucigalpa and worked with Heifer International Honduras, a non-governmental organization dedicated to ending hunger and poverty. Through the depth and breadth of this experience, Louisa gained tremendous respect for international development work as well as for the people on the ground in Honduras – a respect that remains formative in her sense of call to ministry.  

Louisa left Central America in 2006 to pursue a degree in ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary.  While at Princeton, Louisa was highly active in campus life; among her activities were co-moderating Seminarians for Peace and Justice, serving in Student Government and as a member of the board for the Women’s Center, and singing in the seminary choirs. Along with campus life, Louisa worked at an urban church in Trenton, NJ, did chaplaincy in south Dallas, and interned with the Presbyterian United Nations Office in New York. Upon earning her MDiv in 2009, Louisa moved to Washington, DC where she worked with a faith-based non-profit called ‘Faith in Public Life’. 

All of this has made for a winding road to Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church – a road that Louisa hopes will enrich her work as she begins her call to congregational ministry.  She feels unspeakably blessed to be able to get to know and serve alongside the people of BMPC as she and they discern what it is to follow Christ in today’s world.

Louisa loves good food, is addicted to coffee, enjoys entertaining, plays the cello, and has been known to yodel when the mood is right.  She has a dog named Calvin and a husband named Will and they all live together in Bryn Mawr. Contact Louisa.