Grant Henry, aka Sister Louisa, (born 1956) is an American former divinity student, artist, and businessman based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is best known for his artwork and installations created as his alter ego "Sister Louisa" and for being the proprietor of the popular Atlanta bar, Sister Louisa's Church of the Living Room and Ping Pong Emporium. [1]
Grant Henry was born in Panama City, Florida, on July 1, 1956. He moved to Acworth, Georgia, in 1972 and graduated from North Cobb High School in 1974. He attended Berry College in Rome, Georgia, Florida State University, Florida International University, where he earned a BS degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Travel, Georgia State University, where he earned a M.Ed in Education, Columbia Theological Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary, where he pursued a Master of Divinity with a concentration in Pastoral Care.
The work of Sister Louisa debuted in November 1996 in an art show at The Telephone Factory, an art deco loft complex in downtown Atlanta. In 2001, Henry opened an Atlanta gallery on St. Charles Ave. in Atlanta called Sister Louisa's Church of the Living Room; Come on in, Precious. [2] At the time, Henry was bartending at a bar called The Local. He was voted "Best Bartender" in the city for 2006 and 2007 by the readership of Creative Loafing. [3]
In 2010, Henry opened Sister Louisa's Church of the Living Room and Ping Pong Emporium in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward district, the neighborhood of Martin Luther King Jr.'s boyhood home. The New York Times described the bar by writing, "this bar plays with, and spoofs, church culture. Karaoke is performed in choir robes, and walls are decorated with faux-religious pop art." [4]
The Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) is an unaccredited theological school in New York City that trains students for service with the Episcopal Church. It was affiliated with Union Theological Seminary from 2018 to 2023. During the 2023-24 academic year, EDS is in transition as it discerns its future. It maintains offices at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City and offers some programing in New York and online. Known throughout the Anglican Communion for progressive teaching and action on issues of civil rights and social justice, its faculty and students were directly involved in many of the social controversies surrounding the Episcopal Church in the latter half of the 20th century and at the start of the 21st.
William Henry Willimon is a retired American theologian and bishop in the United Methodist Church who served the North Alabama Conference for eight years. He is Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Duke Divinity School. He is former Dean of the Chapel at Duke University and is considered by many as one of America's best-known and most influential preachers. A Pulpit & Pew Research on Pastoral Leadership survey determined that he was one of the two most frequently read writers by pastors in mainline Protestantism alongside the Roman Catholic writer Henri Nouwen. His books have sold over a million copies. He is also Editor-At-Large of The Christian Century. His 2019 memoir Accidental Preacher was released to wide acclaim, described by Justo L. Gonzalez as "An exceptional example of theology at its best."
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) is an academic divinity school founded in 1897 and located in the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois. It is part of and located on the main campus of Trinity International University. It is among the largest theological educational institutions.
Candler School of Theology is one of seven graduate schools at Emory University, located in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. A university-based school of theology, Candler educates ministers, scholars of religion and other leaders. It is also one of 13 seminaries affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of a monthly arts and culture newspaper/magazine. The company publishes a 60,000 circulation monthly publication which is distributed to in-town locations and neighborhoods on the first Thursday of each month. The company has historically been a part of the alternative weekly newspapers association in the United States.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States was a small Presbyterian denomination based in the United States that merged into the Vanguard Presbytery. The RPCUS was established in 1983, subscribes to the unrevised Westminster Confession and upholds biblical inerrancy. The denomination self-identified as theonomic.
Luther Rice College & Seminary is a private Baptist college and seminary in Lithonia, Georgia. Through the college and seminary the institution offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in leadership, counseling, apologetics, Christian worldview, Christian studies, and Christian ministry. The school is recognized as being theologically conservative.
The Old Fourth Ward, often abbreviated O4W, is an intown neighborhood on the eastside of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The neighborhood is best known as the location of the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site.
B. Michael Watson is a bishop of The United Methodist Church, elected in 2000. He served as resident bishop of the North Georgia Annual Conference, which comprises 1,000 churches, more than 1,500 clergy members, and more than 320,000 lay members. He retired in 2016 and currently serves as ecumenical officer of the Council of Bishops.
The Castle, also known as Fort Peace, is the former residence of wealthy agricultural supplier Ferdinand McMillan (1844–1920). It is located at 87 15th Street NW in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, next to the High Museum of Art. After McMillan's death, the building long housed facilities for Atlanta's arts community. The City designated The Castle a landmark in 1989.
In recent years, Atlanta has become one of the USA's best cities for street art. Street artists have prominently created murals in Krog Street Tunnel, along the BeltLine, and in neighborhoods across the city. The street art conference, Living Walls, the City Speaks, originated in Atlanta in 2009.
Alex Brewer, also known as HENSE, is an American contemporary artist, best known for his dynamic, vivid and colorful abstract paintings and monumental wall pieces. He has been active since the 1990s. In 2002 he began accepting commissions for artwork and over the course of the last decade has established a solid reputation as a commissioned artist, having appeared in several solo and group shows.
Dad's Garage Theatre Company, located at 569 Ezzard St. in the Old Fourth Ward in Atlanta, Georgia, was founded in 1995 by Chris Blair, Marc Cram, Sean Daniels, George Faughnan, John Gregorio, David Keeton, Joseph Limbaugh, Matt Stanton, and Matt Young. A second wave of people in the founding summer soon followed, and the theatre company spent the next five years establishing itself in the Atlanta improv and theatre communities. The small theater company has since achieved international recognition for original stage productions and Improvisational comedy. Former Second City company member, Tim Stoltenberg is the current Artistic Director. Stacey Sharer is the current managing director.
Sister Louisa's Church of the Living Room and Ping Pong Emporium, or simply Church, is a bar on Edgewood Avenue in the Old Fourth Ward of Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. It is owned by Grant Henry.
Edgewood Avenue is a street in Atlanta, Georgia, United States which runs from Five Points in Downtown Atlanta, eastward through the Old Fourth Ward. The avenue runs in the direction of the Edgewood neighborhood, and stops just short of it in Inman Park. Edgewood Avenue was first important as the route of a streetcar line to Inman Park, Atlanta's first garden suburb and home to many of its most prominent citizens. Today, the avenue is known for its restaurants and nightlife around its intersection with Boulevard.
Robert Hodges Johnson is an American prelate who served as the fifth Bishop of Western North Carolina in The Episcopal Church.
James Milton Richardson was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas from 1965 to 1980. A graduate of Emory University, the University of Georgia, and Virginia Theological Seminary, he was consecrated on February 10, 1965.
William Loftin Hargrave was suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Florida, serving from 1961 to 1969. He served subsequently as first bishop of the new Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida from 1969 to 1975.
John Durham Wing was the second bishop of the Diocese of South Florida in The Episcopal Church, serving from 1932 to 1950. He was elected bishop coadjutor in 1925.
Bishop Wesley John Gaines was an African-American church and community leader in Georgia. He was vice president of Payne Theological Seminary and co-founder of Morris Brown College.