Annual Meeting 2024

Sunday, February 4
9–9:45 a.m.; In-person or Live-Stream :

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, Marcie Hammel, Jorge Tameron, and Tim Zelek. Our current Senior Warden, Cathy Zalba, has also agreed to serve an additional one year term. Nancy Nolan will also fill an additional one year term on vestry. At the Annual Meeting, 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 people fill 1 year terms as 5 people are completing their terms this year (4 people completing their 3 year terms, and one person completing a one year term).

This year, we will also be reviewing the Bylaws of our Parish Endowment and will consider an ammendment to the bylaws to allow the Endowment Committee to simplify the process of making changes to our investment strategy. Vestry and Finance Committee will still need to approve any changes and the Endowment Committee will continue to update the parish on a regular basis about the status of the Endowment. Read more about the proposed changes in the Annual Report or learn more about our Endowment.

3 Year Vestry Candidate: Marcie Hammel

I am a lifelong Episcopalian, growing up at St. James, Wooster, OH. I have so many cherished memories from those years, whether it be of Sunday School, Children’s Choir, Youth Group, Girls Friendly Society, Cathedral field trips, watching my parents serve on Altar Guild and Vestry, and finally being blessed by the many seniors my parents transported to/from church and made a part of our family.

My husband, Richard, and I have been members at St. Barnabas for 20+ years (early 90’s and late 2000’s onward). I have been active as an 8 AM LEM, Altar Guild member, and as part of the Sunday Reflection Group. We love the vitality of St. Barnabas, and the wonderful synergies between young and old, newcomers and old-timers. I feel called to help this community continue to flourish and grow, whether it be spiritually or physically. While I have been an Episcopalian for 66 years, I still enjoy looking forward to new ideas, growth, and change! After all, I was Episcopalian during, what I consider, the very exciting and, at times, tumultuous 70’s with the “Green Book” and Women’s Ordination.

3 Year Vestry Candidate: Jorge Tameron

A son of Cuban immigrants, Jorge was raised by his grandparents in South Florida. He has engineering degrees from the University of Miami and the University of Florida, along with a J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. After serving in the United States Air Force, Jorge moved to Cincinnati to be with his wife, Ashley. Jorge and Ashley moved to Montgomery in the fall of 2020, just a few blocks from St. Barnabas, and are raising their two children Elliot (4) and Lucas (3). Jorge spent the last two years as a stay at home parent, and has recently returned to the practice of law with Frost Brown Todd LLP in the Intellectual Property group.

Jorge has been a member of St. Barnabas for about a year and a half. He shares, "We first visited in the fall of 2022. The first visit was the day of the Holy Communion class of 2022, and we have attended as much as possible ever since. I appreciate the genuineness with which everything is done at St. Barnabas. Also, I have seen no hate, no judgment, no directives (other than the core principles of the church). Rather, I see a community that leads with love and inclusiveness for all. I want to give back to my community and believe that my background will make me a good contributor. I also listened to my heart and look forward to serving on the vestry of St. Barnabas."

3 Year Vestry Candidate: Tim Zelek

Tim Zelek is a landscape architect and is soon to be retired. He has served as the Chief of Planning for Hamilton County Parks.Tim is husband to his best friend, Betsy, and dad of two great kids, Anne and John. He is grandfather of Oli, and soon his little brother, who is due in a week. Tim was raised Catholic but has been comfortably attending the Episcopal Church since getting married.

Tim and his wife Betsy have been members of St. Barnabas for 35 years. St. Barnabas has been a wonderful community in which to raise a family. The music, of course, is amazing (we are so lucky to have Michael Chertock). I appreciate our outreach initiatives and more recently feel that the church is especially accessible and welcoming to all.

My previous involvement in the church has included a stint on the vestry as the 17th junior warden, creating the landscape plan and raising funds and volunteers to install the original plantings, teaching Sunday School, and working with leadership to study various options to improve the church grounds and parking.

I have a desire to share some of my retirement time by volunteering in the community. The vestry gives me an opportunity to give back to St. Barnabas. I'm so impressed with the direction the church is going and am excited to be a part of it.

1 Year Vestry Candidate: Cathy Zalba

My family and I have been members of St. Barnabas since 2016. When we moved back to Cincinnati after living in Paris, my husband (Cary) and I started visiting different churches. I was raised in the Episcopal church up in Cleveland and the St. Barnabas parish felt like home and the perfect place for our young family. The children started Sunday school and shortly thereafter I started volunteering with the Godly play classes.

Professionally, I am a physical therapist within the Tri Health hospital system. Currently, I am practicing in the areas of outpatient orthopedics and occupational medicine. I enjoy working with people and the meaningful work of healthcare.

I am also an active volunteer at our children’s school and with our children’s activities. In the past few years, I have been everything from Girl Scout leader to volleyball coach. Currently, our daughter (Elizabeth, age 14) is in theater and our son (William, age 12) is pursuing karate, so now I am a theater and karate Mom.

For the past three years I have served on the vestry, one of those years as Junior Warden, and last year as Senior Warden. It has been an honor and joy to be a part of the governing body of our church and to serve alongside Pastor Jane, the other vestry Members, and all of the incredibly special people we have at St. Barnabas. I have loved getting to know the inner workings of our church and getting to know all of you better. When asked to serve one more year on the vestry, my answer was………I would love to.

1 Year Vestry Candidate: Nancy Nolan

Nancy Nolan has been a member of St. Barnabas since 1993, when she joined the music program as part of a vocal quartet. She served for a year on the Vestry, and also worked on the Strategic Planning, Intentional Transformation and March Gladness committees. She was a member of the search committee that called Pastor Nancy Turner Jones to lead our parish in 2014. Nancy is married to another former Vestry member, John Nolan, and they have three children: Max, Tiffany and Chris. She and John live in Lebanon, OH.