Our new Interim Rector is the Rev. Lisa Green, who comes to Redeemer from Christ Church in Short Hills, where she has been Assistant Rector since June 2008. Before ordination she was Associate Director of Interweave, a community learning center for wellness, spirituality, and the common good in Summit.

A 2007 graduate of Drew Theological School in Madison, she served as seminarian at St. John's and St. Luke's, both in Montclair, where she lives with her daughter Mary Mitchell, who recently graduated from The College of William and Mary in Virginia.

Over the years Lisa has been a student and teacher of world, women’s and family spirituality, mysticism, and creativity in daily life, especially the vocation of the poet. Her ministry has been enlivened by training in community organizing through the Industrial Areas Foundation, and she recently became the diocesan Ecumenical/Interfaith officer and has served as a member of the board of The Oasis, The Voice, and the Liturgy & Music Commission. At Interweave, she was a co-founder of Women of Sacred Story, a Jewish/Christian/Muslim gathering, and Wisdom's Well, a monthly female-language worship service. Her essay "The Practice of Substituted Love" appeared in Compassion: Thoughts on Cultivating a Good Heart (Fresh Air Books, 2008).

Director of Music – Ed Alstrom [ back to top ]

Ed grew up in Ridgewood, NJ and started playing the organ at the age of 5. He learned to play the guitar and bass as a teenager and received a B.A. in Organ Performance at Westminster Choir College. He has performed with many notable entertainers, including Bette Midler, Chuck Berry, Leonard Bernstein, Herbie Hancock, Eddie Fisher, Odetta, Dion, Zubin Mehta and many others. Recently, he has been subbing as keyboard chair with the current incarnation of BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS, and has served on Broadway in ‘Hairspray’ (as Interim Associate Conductor and keyboard sub), 'Leader Of The Pack (The Ellie Greenwich Musical), 'Smokey Joe's Cafe', 'Taboo', 'Brooklyn', and 'Hot Feet'. Ed recorded 3 CDs, and was awarded the prestigious ‘Backstage Bistro’ award and an ASCAP Songwriter Award for his CD “Acid Cabaret”. Ed's latest, "GETTIN' ORGAN-IZED!", is his first jazz CD on the Hammond Organ.

In November, 2009, we welcomed Ed as Redeemer's Music Director and Organist. He has also served at Upper Ridgewood Community Church (Ridgewood), Holy Spirit Lutheran (Verona), and Presbyterian Church of West Caldwell.

Ed is the weekend organist for the NY Yankees baseball team. Ed’s website has a great picture of him on the very large-screen TV projected in the new stadium (see www.edalstrom.com ).

About Wardens & Vestry

Wardens — The wardens share in leading the parish and vestry. The wardens are members of the parish elected by the church membership. They work in tandem with the vestry and rector to implement a vision and oversee the church's activity and welfare.

Vestry — The vestry is the governing board of the church. It consists of the rector, the wardens, and members of our parish elected by the church membership. The vestry creates a vision and oversees the church's activities and welfare.

Wardens & Vestry [ back to top ]

Wardens

Gene Williams (Membership, Education, Social Concerns, Pastoral Concerns, Stewardship & Planned Giving)

Gene Williams came to Church of the Redeemer in 2004. He and his wife Deborah were very involved in a number of service and leadership roles at another Episcopal church where they had been members for 20 years. Their daughter Genevieve and son Zachary grew up in that church. Gene has been an Episcopalian all his life; for some years he had been an advocate for change in the way the church expresses its theology, but was frustrated that such changes are often resisted and perceived as a threat by many within the church. He had an opportunity to visit Redeemer one Sunday and was surprised and excited to find that we were not only open to such changes, but had already implemented them. He visited again for our Good Friday service and decided that evening that he wanted to be a part of the Redeemer family and to help support its vision. He now says, "I am grateful to have found Redeemer and proud to be a part of it. It looks to me like the kingdom of God." He was elected Warden in 2006.

Gene grew up in Louisiana, Texas and Georgia. He and Deborah married while they were both in college in Atlanta in 1970. They lived in Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles before being transferred to New Jersey in 1983. They live in Whitehouse Station. Gene has been in the commercial insurance underwriting business his entire career. For the past 24 years he has been with Chubb Commercial Insurance, and works in their Whitehouse Station headquarters.

Bill Primus (Worship, Property Administration, Communication, Parish Activities, Stewardship & Planned Giving)

Bill Primus is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Urban League of Morris County. Bill is very dedicated and instrumental to the League’s mission to enable African Americans and other minorities to secure economic self-reliance, parity and power, and civil rights; and to assist any residents of the County desirous of improving their quality of life.

Bill received his Bachelors Degree, Political Science & Sociology from Livingstone College, Salisbury, NC, and received his Masters Degree, City & Regional Planning and Design from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY.

Joanna Dewey (Transition Warden)

Joanna Dewey joined the Church of the Redeemer in 2005 when she retired from the Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) in Cambridge, MA, and followed her partner, the Rev. Fairbairn Powers, to New Jersey. She is a long-time Episcopalian. She loves Redeemer because of its inclusive and participatory liturgy, its open theology, and its commitment to outreach and justice.

At EDS, she was the Harvey H. Guthrie, Jr. Professor of Biblical Studies and Academic Dean. She did her graduate work in New Testament Studies at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and Graduate Theological Union, in Berkeley, CA, and taught in Oklahoma and Rochester, NY before going to EDS in 1988. Her field is New Testament, particularly the Gospel of Mark, and 1st century oral performance. She regularly does adjunct teaching, currently at Drew; she is a member of the Jesus Seminar; and she continues to publish and present papers in her field. She grew up in New York City - Manhattan - and never expected to find herself living in New Jersey!

Vestry Members

Paul Cecala - Worship
Terri Fasano - Membership
Eileen Gerety - Parish Activities
Marilyn Greco - Education
Randy Johnson - Communications
Anne Marie McKibbon - Finance, Stewardship
Steve Osvold - Outreach
Terry Perkins - Stewardship and CSK Liaison
Jerry Racioppi - Worship
George Ross - Property Administration
Fran Szwec- Property Administration
Wayne Walton - Vestry Clerk, Building Committee

Peter Arney - Building Committee Chair
John Goodwin - Eric Johnson House liason
Pat Hintz - Treasurer