New faces, and gifts, join St. Stephen’s staff And the parish bids grateful farewells to several faithful servants
T
he only constant is change, goes the adage…and during a pandemic, there seems to be even more of it. As our ministries adapt to new realities, staff needs adapt, as well.
Since mid-Lent, St. Stephen’s Church has been producing worship videos released each Sunday (as well as those for Holy Week). After nearly six months of creating these videos with a freelance videographer and editor working with our communications, music, and clergy staff, we have hired a full-time communications associate whose duties include video production. Dillon Gwaltney, a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University who grew up in the Richmond area, recently returned “home” after working as an editor in Los Angeles. He has worked for a majority of his career in action sports media where he produced high energy content for companies like RedBull and NBCSports. We know that even after in-person worship returns, we will continue to build on our new video and livestreaming ministry, so Dillon is an important addition to our team. “We’ve had talented freelance videographers work for us on specific projects over the years,” says Sarah Bartenstein, director of communications. “We’ve known for some time that we could be doing more through this medium, but it took a global pandemic for us to realize that having a videographer/producer on our staff wasn’t a luxury, but a necessity. Dillon is a tremendous asset as we reach our parishioners in exciting new ways, and expand the reach of our communications.” Another ministry that has adapted to current circumstances is the Café @ St. Stephen’s. When churches throughout Virginia closed to the public, the café (and the May Fair House and the bookshop) were also closed. When it became possible to resume operations in a limited way, the café began offering curbside service, and later expanded to include outdoor dining with additional café tables, umbrellas, and chairs on the terrace outside the café and in the courtyard. During the past several months, two cafés on Grove Avenue have closed, and we have been glad to be in a position to serve customers who have missed seeing one another and want to re-connect in a low-risk way. So we’re thrilled that a new, full-time café manager joins our staff on September 16, Tabitha Venditti. Tabitha has a background in food service, most recently as the kitchen manager at Mountain Run Farm in Sedalia, near Lynchburg. Her desire to move to the Richmond area coincided with our need for a new café manager, and all who interviewed Tabitha were bowled over by
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her skills, knowledge, enthusiasm, and her understanding of and appreciation for our mission. Parish administrator Betsy Lee was among those who interviewed Tabitha. Betsy says, “It was clear that Tabitha is passionate about food, the environment, health and people.” Betsy continues, “The more we told her about our various food ministries, the more excited she became. You could see it in her eyes. We are doing things she feels strongly about and it was evident that she and St. Stephen’s were a good match.” We announced the arrival of the Rev. Cate Anthony in a special edition of the eSpirit several months ago. This newest member of our clergy staff arrived over the summer as a transitional deacon, having graduated in the spring from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. In early September, Cate was ordained a priest at St. James’ Cathedral in Chicago, her presenting parish. (The Rev. Will Stanley, our vicar, represented St. Stephen’s at this small, safely-distanced service, and was also the preacher.) Cate has been coordinating pastoral care since the retirement of the Rev. Steve McGehee; working with Allison Seay on Emmaus Groups; coordinating our “Sacred Ground” program, a 10-week small group curriculum on race; and contributing homilies to our weekly worship videos. In other words, pandemic or no, she’s jumped into our life with both feet. Since Cate has not had the opportunity to meet (or be met) by many parishioners in person, we are working on a video introduction that will be available soon on our Web site and Vimeo channel. Erin Townsend is with us as interim outreach coordinator to ensure that vital ministries, particularly our food ministry, continue as we search for a full-time outreach director. The needs are growing all the time as people cope with economic upheaval brought on by the pandemic, and we are grateful to have someone with Erin’s enthusiasm, skills, and dedication. The 2019 graduate of James Madison University has been an active member of the parish for many years, and she is doing an excellent job in her role here. GODSPEED Dawn Childs, who had served for five years as a part-time member of our music team, departed our staff in June. Dawn said that with her family responsibilities as well as her expanding role at St. Michael’s Episcopal School where she is a teacher were SEASONS OF THE SPIRIT
