Announcing Our Next Rector
This Sunday in church, I had the pleasure of announcing the new rector who will lead St. Barnabas. In a unanimous vote by the Vestry we have selected the Reverend Canon Jane Gerdsen to be our next rector. She will begin her ministry will us on Sunday, September 26.
Many thanks to our rector search committee, who together worked over 1,000 hours throughout the search process:
Bob Gustafson & Marie Trelka, Co-Chairs
Trish Branam
Larry James
Brian Leary
John Nolan
Cherry Perlson
Kara Shay Thomson
Jane is a graduate of Mt. Holyoke College in MA with a Bachelor of Arts in English and French. She went on to earn her Master of Divinity from Episcopal Divinity School. Since graduating from divinity school she has served churches in Springfield, Dayton, and Cincinnati, OH. Most recently she served as Canon for Ministry Development in the Diocese of Southern Ohio and as Priest-in-Charge (part time) at All Saints Episcopal Church, Cincinnati.
She brings youth, vitality, enthusiasm, and valuable skills to our church. Besides an insider’s perspective to our diocese, Jane has experience with Zoom and other digital technology, and has experience in Youth Programming. She has demonstrated the ability to connect with intergenerational members of the parish and community and has developed partnerships between her church and the local communities.
Her desire is to focus on being the parish priest of a growing congregation and to develop new ways to help us grow and become a more vibrant community.
Her focus is two-fold—
The attraction and engagement of young families with children and
The spiritual life and needs of our empty nest/senior population
Jane is married to Rob Konkol. They have two children, Emma and Josh, ages 8 and 11.
In conversations I have had with Jane she has stated how very excited she is to meet all of us and that she feels very honored to be called as our next Rector.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that we have found a terrific person for our church. I am very excited that as we continue our forward journey we will have the Reverend Jane Gerdsen as our Rector.
Respectfully,
Bert Nelson
Senior Warden