Congratulations are in order for two members of our St. John’s family – Chris Schwenk, and Kate Kile – for their recent honors and involvement within the Episcopal Church community.
Christopher Schwenk (T’22), our St. John’s seminarian, was recently honored by the Sewanee School of Theology as the recipient of the 2020 Freeman Award for Merit, an award honoring a rising middler student that has demonstrated outstanding academic performance and promise.
Chris shared, “I am humbled and honored to be recognized with the Freeman Award, and I thank Reed and Nancy Freeman for their generosity. I feel indebted to the School of Theology’s brilliant faculty for their teaching, prayers, and encouragement. What a gift it is to be formed for ministry to God’s people in a community like this.”
Reed Freeman, T’96, T’05, and his wife, Nancy, established the Freeman Award for Merit in 1998. Freeman was a recipient of the Woods Leadership Award while he was attending seminary at the School of Theology.
The awards’ recipients are decided each year by the dean and faculty of the School of Theology. Congratulations, Chris!
We are also pleased to recognize Kate Kile, St. John’s Director of Finance and Stewardship, who recently was invited to serve on the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes (CEEP) panel on stewardship.
The CEEP Network provides learning opportunities for lay and clergy leaders across the network and around the church. Kate was part of their important conversation about fall campaigns and the stewardship season during COVID-19. The session provided insights and ideas on how to engage in effective stewardship solicitation in a time when we remain largely socially distanced.
Kate was one of four stewardship professionals from across the country to lead a lively discussion on how campaigns in parishes large to small can engage congregants effectively. Thank you, Kate, for your service to St. John’s and for sharing your expertise with our wider church family.
