Vestry Nominees 2026

The Slate

Top row: James Driscoll, Meg Eckman, Wortie Ferrell
Bottom row: Darrell Headrick, Chip Jamerson, Katie Webb

Nominees to serve three-year terms concluding in February 2029

James Driscoll, managing partner and co-founder of Gateway Healthcare Professionals, has been a St. Stephen’s parishioner since 2008. He co-chairs the outreach grants committee, and is a greeter and reader. He has previously served as an usher, an annual giving campaign volunteer, a member of the outreach grants committee, on the preschool board, as a volunteer with the youth pageant, and in numerous roles in outreach. He regularly attends the 9 a.m. service.

Meg Eckman, a digital marketing manager, has been a parishioner here since 2017 where she organizes monthly dinners for young adults; attends the young women’s book club; gleans at the farmers market (gathering donated produce from vendors for our food pantry); serves in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, is a reader and intercessor;, and takes part in St. Stephen’s Ambassadors program (a hospitality initiative). In the past she has taken part in small groups, Sacred Ground; a discernment committee, and has attended various Wednesday evening classes. She attends the 9 a.m. service most Sundays.

Leavenworth (Wortie) Ferrell, a financial advisor, has been a parishioner since 2010. He has been serving as one of the co-chairs of our annual giving campaign since last fall, and took part in the Palmer Hall service when his children were younger. In the past, he served on the board of St. Stephen’s Preschool and on the vestry nominating committee. He is a regular at the 9 a.m. service and attends the 8 p.m. Compline service as well.

Darrell Headrick, now retired, was for 30 years a member of the faculty at Randolph Macon College and was chaplain of the college and director of the RMC Peace and Justice Center. Confirmed in the Episcopal Church in 1998, he came to St. Stephen’s in 2016. He is a member of St. Stephen’s Racial Healing Commission and the hospitality committee, and co-facilitator of the Awakened Faith: Fighting Racism small group. He has served on a discernment committee for an aspirant for Holy Orders and as a delegate from St. Stephen’s to the 2025 convention of the Diocese of Virginia. He is a lay reader and a greeter, and is part of St. Stephen’s Ambassador initiative. He’s been co-facilitator of a “Being With” small group, of a group studying Catherine Meeks’ “Racial Healing,” and of a Sacred Ground circle. He’s previously served as an usher. Darrell regularly attends the 11:15 a.m. service.

Kenneth (Chip) Jamerson is a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley. He’s been a member here since 2020. Chip serves as a chalice bearer and a subdeacon at the 9, 11:15, and 5:30 services. He is on the setup crew for the farmers market every Saturday. He’s been a co-facilitator of a Being With group and currently serves as a co-facilitator of an Emmaus group. Chip has also participated in St. Stephen’s HANDS Ministry. Before joining St. Stephen’s, he sang in the choir at St. Paul’s, Lynchburg, where he was a lay minister and a member of the vestry, including terms as junior warden and senior warden. Most Sundays he attends the 5:30 p.m. service of Celtic Evensong and Communion.

Katharine (Katie) Webb is retired after a lifelong career in health care. Katie has been involved here since 2013 and in 2018 transferred her membership from another Episcopal church where she had been an active member for more than 40 years. At St. Stephen’s she serves as a member of the pastoral care committee. She regularly attends the Sunday Forum and while she is usually at the 9 a.m. service on Sunday mornings, she also attends the Celtic service.

 

St. Stephen’s Church has a vestry of 18 parishioners, with groups of six rotating off each year and six new members being elected by the parish at our annual meeting in February. This system provides both continuity and new energy and ideas. To facilitate the process of recruiting and naming nominees, the vestry appoints a nominating committee each year consisting of the six outgoing members of the vestry and six at-large members. The vestry also appoints one or two of the members of the nominating committee to chair it.

This year’s nominating committee included: retiring vestry members Robert Birdsey, Kathy Brock, May Fox, nominating committee co-chair, Mary Ashburn Pearson, and Chris Smith; at-large members Hank Chambers, Marion Chenault, Bob Dibble, nominating committee co-chair, Pat Githens, Allison Koschak, and Cary Williams. (To see a list of current vestry members, visit the vestry page of the website.)

The parish is invited in late fall to submit names for consideration by the nominating committee. In compiling a slate for election at the annual parish meeting, the nominating committee considers not only what the six new members of the vestry will bring to that group, but how their skills, experiences, and participation in the life of this parish will complement those of the 12 continuing members. They also follow the criteria listed below.

Those nominated for vestry service:
• should be qualified according to the Canons (church laws). This means that she or he should be a confirmed or received member, and should be “known to the treasurer.” Someone who is known to the treasurer means to us that she or he has been a contributing member of St. Stephen’s with sustained giving for the most recent three years, or if newer to St. Stephen’s, they should have given sustained financial support during their time here;
• should have demonstrated a level of commitment to St. Stephen’s which is appropriate to vestry service, including attending worship regularly and engaging in the ministries of St. Stephen’s;
• should have the ability to be a constructive and unifying influence even when working with those of different viewpoints; and
• should not be the spouse, sibling, parent or child of a member of the nominating committee, the current vestry, a current staff member, nor have served on St. Stephen’s vestry for at least three years.