Powell was ordained deacon in 1920, and priest on January 9, 1921, by Bishop William Cabell Brown of Virginia. From 1920 to 1931 he served as rector of St Paul's Memorial Church, in Charlottesville, Virginia, and also ministered during that period to students at the University of Virginia, who knew him as "Parson Powell." In 1931 he became rector of Emmanuel Church, Baltimore. He became Dean of Washington National Cathedral and warden of the College of Preachers in 1937.
^"Bishop Powell Installed". The Living Church. 107 (23): 6. December 5, 1943.
David Hein, Noble Powell and the Episcopal Establishment in the Twentieth Century. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001 (hardcover)ISBN0-252-02643-8; Eugene, Ore.: Wipf & Stock, 2007 (paperback)ISBN1-556-35394-4.