2022 VESTRY CANDIDATES
2022 VESTRY CANDIDATES
The leadership of the local church is shared between the rector or priest (senior clergy person) and the elected vestry members (lay people) of All Saints’. We have a vestry of 12 members, 3 classes of 4 people who serve for 3 year terms. This means that each year, 4 people complete their term and 4 new members of the vestry are elected at the annual meeting.
Below are our 2022 nominees for Vestry.
Please click the blue button below each Vestry member’s portrait to read their bio!
Jim Filson
Jim Filson's Bio
My wife and I moved to the Frederick area in 2017 after our retirement, she in the healthcare industry and I in the military and as an IT consultant. One of our priorities was to find a new church. Not hard one would think with all the churches in Frederick. After many disappointments of not being welcomed we showed up at All Saints. No sooner than we walked in the door we were greeted by Clarence Harper, Waymon Wright and Don Orcutt. Many of you are now smiling knowing exactly what I am saying. Should I be elected, one of my primary objectives would be to ensue All Saints never loses that openness and welcoming love we received when we first entered the sanctuary. My goal as a member of the Vestry would be to represent each of you as a good steward of money, buildings and our congregation.
Tom Koerner
Tom Koerner's Bio
I am a pediatrician (for 30 years) and I am currently working at Frederick Pediatric Associates. Elizabeth and I moved to Frederick three years ago to be closer to our grandchildren. I have three sons and four grandchildren. We live in Worman’s Mill. We have been members at All Saints’ for the last three years and I have worked with the Youth group, the Men’s Group, Healing and Outreach. I am called to vestry because All Saints’ is very important to me and I hope I can be of help through these difficult times.
Don Orcutt
Don Orcutt's Bio
Member to All Saints church for over 10 years.
Member of Verger Team (previously Worship Team) for over 8 years.
Usher for over 8 years (inactive during COVID-19 epidemic).
Member or Over The Hill Gang for over 8 years. (Mostly inactive during COVID-19 epidemic).
Member of church Men’s Group for over 10 years.
Retired since Dec 2003 from Montgomery Government as Enviromental Engineer.
Attended, confirmed and baptized in Poughkeepsie New York as a Presbyterian.
As a previous member of the vestry, I realize how important this lay leadership function is to providing direction and coordination. Although it can be time consuming and that it takes a consensus of twelve individuals to make decisions, it is based on what is best practices for our church community group and love that allows them to follow a Godly path for all the members. Through the many changes we are going through now, I remember the multitude of changes our church went through less than 10 years ago. I have every confidence that our church will continue to grow and prosper, so desire to help in any way I can to keep us heading in the best way possible. This is why I offer my service to be on the vestry again.
Thank you and wish all well.
Rachel Querry
Rachel Querry's Bio
As someone who has served in various capacities on the Stewardship team and the Vestry over the past 15 years, I’m hoping that I can bring perspectives about our history, prior clergy transitions and the importance of sharing our wisdom, work and wealth as we navigate our future over the next few years.
All Saints’ has been my faith home since the mid 1990s. My husband Randy and I were married here, and our daughter Kate was active in many of the children’s and youth ministries before she left Maryland to attend college. I’m committed to our formation programs out of those experiences, which led to many lasting relationships with All Saints’ families.
I also want to support our ongoing work on issues of racial justice and hope to ensure that our commitment to that ministry remains strong. We also need to continue our outreach programs, be good stewards of our buildings and grounds and remain committed to our strong worship and music ministries. It’s important that we remain a welcoming church and that members of our community experience us as a group of people joined by our faith and brought together by our call to be the body of Christ in Frederick.
Outside of church, I help to manage communications programs and campaigns for the Humane Society of the United States. Finding the right words to motivate individuals to protect animals has been my professional calling and I’ve been very blessed to have that opportunity for 30 years. I’m also glad to have had the opportunity to bring some of my communications and fundraising experience to the All Saints’ family through my role on our Stewardship team.
If I’m elected, I’d be pleased to serve and to help guide All Saints’ through this next chapter.
Angie Richards
Angie Richard's Bio
I moved from Colorado to Maryland with my husband, Brandon, and two boys, Bryce (12) and Nathan (9) in 2015. I value connection, community, and growth. Just as each place I’ve lived has had its own unique beauty to hold, each person I have met throughout my journey has had their own way of illuminating God’s love and teaching me about life.
Professionally, I received my bachelor’s degree in elementary education. After becoming a mother, I chose to stay home with my boys until Nathan started Kindergarten, a milestone that led me back to work teaching preschool at Middletown United Methodist Church. I am currently in graduate school, completing a Masters in Social Work (MSW) this summer. Most of my professional time is spent in social work courses or in my field practicum in Leesburg, Virginia, serving youth who are homeless or at risk for homelessness.
Almost four years ago, my desire to reconnect with liturgy and the sacraments led me to All Saints’. I found a deep connection of community at All Saints’, and it’s a connection that I continue to feel. I have served in many ways, including co-leading camp the last two years, healing prayer ministry, visioning team, College of Congregational Development (CCD), adult formation and family formation, lector, Genesis II, and many other areas of study and life in community at ASEC. My kids continue to be a reminder of my passion for the spiritual growth of the youngest in our congregation, and the vision of an environment where young families connect, grow, and thrive.
My hope in answering the call to join Vestry at this time is that I can be another voice of compassion and light as we move into God’s purpose for our congregation. While the major transitions we are facing together in the coming years can feel uncertain, I also feel a deep sense of opportunity for the congregation to extend God’s love to each other and to our community in even deeper ways. I see so many assets in this congregation and I feel the Holy Spirit calling me to look closer and to illuminate those assets as we walk through decisions over the next phase of parish life.
I am deeply committed to the community of ASEC and I welcome this opportunity to serve.
Toni Serini
Toni Serini's Bio
I was raised in Severna Park, and returned there to raise my family. I moved to Frederick in 2016 to be near my daughter and my grandchildren. My older son is a mushroom farmer in Pennsylvania; his brother is working on a graduate degree in sociology at UMBC. I have a degree in music from Bucknell University and have been teaching piano for 40 years. I currently have 30 students, and have been fortunate since moving to Frederick to be able to host their recitals each year in the Historic Church at All Saints’.
Having been raised in the Presbyterian Church, I have been active in the Episcopal Church for the last 30 years, first at St. Martin’s in the Field in Severna Park, then at St. Anne’s in Annapolis. While at St. Anne’s, I was a member of the Order of Urban Missioners. I have sung in church choirs since I was 10, and I’m looking forward to the choir participating in worship again soon. I’ve been through the Education for Ministry program twice at St. Anne’s and served as EfM mentor here at All Saints’ for three years.
I am honored to be asked to be a candidate for the All Saints’ Vestry. The Covid pandemic has challenged our worship together. I have personally craved the community that in-person worship offers. As we emerge from this pandemic, I am eager to share my experience to help our church community bonds develop new strength and growth within All Saints’ as well as beyond it.
Leslie Skyrms
Leslie Skyrms' Bio
Leslie has been a member of All Saints since she moved to Frederick in 2017. Before that she was a member of Trinity Excelsior Episcopal Church in Excelsior, MN. Since coming to All Saints, Leslie has been a member of the Children’s Formation team. In pre-COVID times she taught pre-school and first grade classes. She has also been a counselor for Vacation Bible School for the last four years.
Leslie has participated in several All Saints programs, including Education for Ministry, Outreach and multiple adult forums. She led Evening Prayer on Tuesday evenings for three months this summer and enjoys attending Morning Prayer when her schedule allows. She provided a meditation for this year’s Lenten booklet.
Leslie is a passionate advocate for children, immigrants, prisoners and those facing housing insecurity. She imagines a world in which all people are treated with the dignity they deserve, since we are all made in the precious image of God. She is honored to be a member of All Saints since it shares this mission and would welcome the opportunity to serve as a Vestry member.
Outside of church, Leslie is a cook at Homewood. She enjoys cooking, writing and reading
Mark Walker
Mark Walker's Bio
I find fulfillment in church ministries, having served in four Episcopal dioceses at different times over the past 40 years. The ministries in which I have served encompass the worship related functions of lector and chalice bearer, the pastoral care related ministry of eucharistic visitor, the formation related ministry of adult education including preparing and leading presentations and discussions in different parishes, and Vestry member including as Senior Warden in a small mission in Alaska where I worked with the vicar and architect on the planning and opening of our new church building.
My vision of the life our Lord Jesus desires for us is that of true community, in which we live in communion with God and each other here in our mortal lives, in full expectation that such fellowship will extend beyond the boundaries of our temporal existence. This is how we make a difference for the better as part of the human family in secular society. As a Vestry member I would seek to encourage such supportive fellowship between all members of All Saints’ church.
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