Annual Meeting 2023

Sunday, February 5
9–9:45 a.m.; In-person or via Zoom :

Meeting ID: 847 4765 5965 Passcode: 282228

Please join us for the Annual Meeting of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. Our Annual Parish Meeting is a time for us to come together to celebrate the past year and to look toward the future.

During the meeting, we will hear updates about the life and ministry of our parish as well as our financial health. It is also a time when we elect leaders to serve on our Vestry (board).

This year we will elect 3 new members to our Vestry, Clark Crabill, Julia Leary and Laurie Johnson Vahlsing. Our current Senior Warden, Bert Nelson, will step down from that role and become our candidate for a one year term.

We will also elect representatives to serve as diocesan convention delegates.

In 2022, we voted to move from a 12 person vestry to a 9 person vestry. The goal will be to elect 3 people each year to 3 year terms. While we continue to make this transition, we will need to have someone serve a one year term as 4 people will complete their terms this year.

3 Year Vestry Candidate: Clark Crabill

I am originally from from Springfield, Ohio and served a six year enlistment in U. S. Navy and received a BS and MBA in Business from Ohio University. I spent ten years with Atlantic Richfield Company, Dallas, Texas and eighteen years as Director of Finance & Controller of Beta Theta Pi General Fraternity & Foundation in Oxford, Ohio.

My wife Susan and I have been married for 43+ years and have a beautiful family that includes our three children, their spouses and our four grandchildren.

We moved to Cincinnati in January of 1986 and began attending St. Barnabas the same month (Susan looked in the Yellow Pages for the nearest Episcopal Church). We have always been active in the parish. I was on the Vestry, 13th Junior Warden, 14th Senior Warden. I also participated in The Great Commissioning Service November 5, 2000, the search committee in 2014, taught Junior High Sunday School for five years, served on the Stewardship Committee for 5 years and was Treasurer for 5 years. I volunteered for Findlay Street Neighborhood House for 13 (so far), have sung in the choir for 13 years (so far), am a part of the landscape crew (for a long time) and the termite team (for a long time).

We have always enjoyed being members of St. Barnabas because of the people that we are surrounded by and we have met some of our dearest and closest friends here.

We participate because we believe in sharing our time, talent & treasure. I am looking forward to being involved in the Vestry as the church grows with new families and extends itself in new areas.

3 Year Vestry Candidate: Julia Leary

I have been a member of St. Barnabas since 1995 when my husband, Brian, and I moved to Cincinnati from the suburbs of Chicago. I was born and raised in a small town, Princeton, Indiana, where I grew up in the Roman Catholic faith and married in that church as well.

Brian and I have found St. Barnabas to be a true beacon of light for us as we navigate faith, life, and service to others. While our daughters Jesse and Emily grew up at St. Barnabas and then moved away from Cincinnati as adults, Brian and I continue to make St. Barnabas our home.

I served as St. Barnabas’ 14th Junior Warden and was involved in Outreach, the Great Commissioning celebration in 2000, served as Sunday school teacher and a lector in my earlier years at St. Barnabas. In 2012, Brian and I felt called to be a part of St. Mary Magdalene, an Episcopal church plant in Maineville, where I served in many supportive roles and on committees. Brian and I returned to St. Barnabas in 2019 and I now serve on the Becoming Beloved Community committee as well as a lector.

Professionally, I practice as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner through Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. For me, my work is part of my calling to serve others.

I am very honored to be asked to serve on Vestry. St. Barnabas is a place where we are alive and growing, together. I feel called to bring my gifts to help in that continued love, growth, and service to one another, both inside our church walls and without, as the Body of Christ.

3 Year Vestry Candidate: Laurie Johnson Vahlsing

I was raised in a little town near the coast of North Carolina, attending East Carolina University for college and medical school. I completed my pediatric residency training in Norfolk, Virginia and arrived in Cincinnati in 2003 to begin my pediatric emergency medicine fellowship training. I have been an attending physician in the Emergency Department at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center for the past 18 years, with a focus on trauma and quality improvement. I have also served as the Vice Chair of the State Board of Ohio Emergency Medical, Fire, Transportation Services Trauma Committee for the past 6 years.

During my fellowship, I met a great neighbor named Kurt who became my husband in 2010! Kurt and I live in Montgomery with our children Ellie and Merrie and began attending St. Barnabas in the spring of 2022. Our family is delighted to find such a warm and welcoming community at St. Barnabas! I am honored to serve on the Vestry as I continue to learn more about the Episcopal church and St. Barnabas

1 Year Vestry Candidate: Bert Nelson

My family and I have been at St. Barnabas for a little over 20 years.

Having served as your Senior Warden for the past 2 years, I was honored to help steer our congregation through the pandemic and calling a new priest to our Parish. I will faithfully serve on the Vestry for an additional year and continue to seek ways to be involved in the ministry of St. Barnabas to our congregation and in our community.

I enjoy being involved at St. Barnabas in so many ways. From accompanying the Youth Choir and singing in the Adult Choir, to working with the Termites repairing and maintaining the property as well as contributing my time and talent playing for the monthly Twin Lakes service.

To me, the Vestry is a group of people who make decisions in the best interest of our church. I know that the well-being of St. Barnabas rests in the hands of many more people than the nine on the Vestry and, for me, it is a chance for me to do more work with the many fine people here and help keep St. Barnabas moving forward.