The Reverend James R. Harlan serves as the ninth Rector of the Church of the Ascension. He most recently finished a three-year ministry as a U.S. Navy Chaplain, serving with the Seabees. During his tour he ministered all over the world, including Guam, Japan, Korea, and several European countries such as Spain, Greece, and Kosovo. Father Harlan is a native of Colorado, having grown up in the southeast suburbs of Denver. A lifelong Episcopalian, he attended St. Michael and All Angels, Christ Church, and Ascension during his childhood and St. Aidan's during his early college years. He entered the University of Colorado in the fall of 1984, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1988 while serving as Assistant Youth Director at St. John's Cathedral in Denver. He went on to become Director of Youth Ministries at St. John's, a position he held for three years.

Father Harlan then attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, earning a Master of Divinity degree in 1994, and receiving awards for academic excellence. As part of his seminary formation, he served part-time at St. Simon's Church, Arlington Heights and St Luke's Church, Evanston, Illinois, and completed Clinical Pastoral Education as a chaplain at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

		The Bishop of Colorado ordained Father Harlan a Deacon in June of 1994 and a Priest in December of 1994. He served as Assistant to the Rector at the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Colorado Springs from 1994 until 1997 and then went on to serve as Rector of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Breckenridge until September of 1999. Within the Diocese, he has served as Chair of the Commission on Youth Ministry, as a member and Chair of the Board of Examining
Father Harlan with friends at St. Paul's Episcopal Church and School in Petit Trou de Nippes, Haiti

Chaplains, and as the Chair of the first Bishop's Task Force on Human Sexuality. He currently chairs the Commission on Ministry, holds an adjunct faculty position teaching Anglican Liturgy at the Iliff School of Theology and serves on the second Bishop's Task Force.

Father Harlan is married to the former Elizabeth June Shaffer of Granby, Colorado. They have one daughter, Hannah, who was born in July 1999. They are thrilled to be living and working in the most beautiful part of God's creation in the greatest city around; surrounded by a lifetime of family and friends; and, most importantly, within a lively and loving parish family that is beginning its second century of godly ministry in the heart of Denver.