Staff and Leadership
Rector
The Rev. Barbara Ballenger has been the Rector at St. Peter's since late 2022. Previously, she served for seven years as an associate at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill, the first five as a lay associate and the last two as Associate Rector. She was ordained in December 2019. Rev. Barb has worked in ministry settings in both the Catholic and Episcopal Church for nearly 30 years, including youth and adult faith formation, campus ministry, global relief and development, domestic disaster response, performing arts ministry and parish pastoral ministry. She also has a long history in social justice and political advocacy, especially in areas of climate justice and racial repair and healing. Rev. Barb is currently the co-chair of the Diocesan Anti-Racism Commission and is part of the diocese’s Loving Presence Initiative.
Rev. Barb plays the guitar and the banjo and is a singer and songwriter. You can find several of her songs, written in her performing arts ministry days, on SoundCloud. Her husband, Jess, is a professor of medical ethics at Drexel University. She has two adult children, Hannah, 21, and Jesse, 27. A dog, Oakley, and cat, Yolandi, also live with the family in their home in Mt. Airy. Rev. Barb loves to read, play cooperative board games, and ride through Pennsylvania with her husband on the couple’s tandem bicycle.
Minister of Music
We welcome Carol Cei as our new Minister of Music!
Carol has degrees in Education-Piano, Music History and Literature-Choral Conducting from Temple University. For more than 35 years, she worked as a realtor and residential appraiser in the 5-county Delaware Valley. Fortunately, she was able to find her way back to music almost 8 years ago.
Over the years, she's had the honor of providing music for almost every denomination and it has been a wonderful learning experience for her. Carol places a great deal of emphasis on the hymns and lyrics of our Choir Anthems and believes "all that we do in Worship should be meaningful and prayerfully....spoken or sung".
Family is very important to Carol. She has a son and daughter, two adult grandchildren and a
10-year-old grandchild who "keeps us on our toes". She's blessed to have her mother who will be 100 years old soon and is "sharp as could be". She is looking forward to coming out to St. Peter’s when she visits from Philadelphia.
Diaconal Intern
Bob Smith is preparing to be ordained as a Deacon in the Episcopal Church in December of 2024. He is beginning his third year of a three year postulancy for the Diaconate.
Bob has lived in Lower Gwynedd, near Wissahickon High School, for close to thirty years. Bob and his wife Lynn have been married for over 40 years. Their three sons all live within a two-hour drive. Bob and Lynn have one grandson and are hoping for more in the not too distant future.
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Bob graduated from Drexel University with a degree in Chemical Engineering. Since 1988, he has owned small businesses and currently owns a Huntington Learning Center franchise.
Volunteering with Hospice organizations has been a part of Bob’s life for the past 7 years. He is currently involved with two hospice organizations visiting patients in their homes or in assisted living communities.
St Paul’s of Chestnut Hill is Bob’s home parish. He has been a member of St. Paul’s for 7 years. At St. Paul’s, Bob led the Lector Ministry and the Eucharist Visitation Ministry delivering Eucharist to parishioners who can no longer attend church services. He also was a Eucharist Minister for Sunday services.
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Bob will be at St Peter’s until Pentecost Sunday.
Bell Choir Director
Kathleen Murphy Flaherty, Bell Choir Director, is in her 50th year of serving as a church musician. She is an experienced organist, pianist, choir director, choral singer, and handbell director for churches of varied denominations in the Philadelphia area. Mrs. Flaherty was Organist and Handbell Director at St. Philip-in-the-Fields for 31 years, prior to the merger with St. Peter’s Glenside. As an organist, Kathleen has performed on the great Philadelphia organs; Girard College, Irvine Auditorium and the Kimmel Center. She has also enjoyed accompanying for choir tours to Israel, Germany and Italy, encountering an assortment of very quirky instruments. Mrs. Flaherty holds a Bachelor of Music Education in keyboard from Boyer College of Music and Dance, Temple University and a Master’s Equivalency with graduate studies at Westminster Choir College, University of the Arts and Villanova University. She received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teachers in 2014, prior to her retirement from Girard Academic Music Program and currently supervises Music Education student teachers for Temple University.
Associate for Communication and Administration
Charlese Freeman grew up in Philadelphia, where she met her fiancé, Winzy. Charlese graduated from East Stroudsburg University, where she received her Bachelor's in English; she received her Master's of Journalism from Temple University. Charlese and Winzy have an 18-month-old son, Clark.
She worked for Check Your Fact in 2021 as a National Association of Black Journalists Fellow. Charlese has served as an usher and tech team member at Faith Fellowship Baptist Church. She currently helps lead the annual Health and Safety Fair and Hearts of Praise Dance Ministry. Charlese enjoys spending time with her family, writing, watching movies, and baking. She is also the host of Phone In a Friend Podcast.
Charlese is available Monday-Friday from 8am-4pm. You can email her at stpeter654@gmail.com.
Caretaker
Tim Valera was born and raised in Glenside. He has worked exclusively for ATD American Co. in the IT department for 30 years. He joined the St. Peter’s community as our caretaker in the summer of 2012. As caretaker, Tim opens and closes all buildings, offers security on the property, and supports all parish, tenant and rental events. He also works on special property projects as needed.
Vestry Members and Liaison Assignments
The 2024 Vestry is comprised of the Rector's Warden, People's Warden, Accounting Warden, Secretary, Youth Representative, and 10 other members.
Wardens
Dave Mosteller, Rector's Warden
Audrey Kipphut, People's Warden
Mike Reeve, Accounting Warden
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Vestry Secretary, Charlie Hannum
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Jeanné Hannum - Outreach
Amy Michener-Wall - HR Subcommittee
Karen Sayer - Worship
Meredith Flaherty - Faith Formation
Amy Neske - Inreach / Parish Life
Douglas Pneuma - Outreach
Debbie DeKalb - Worship
Mark Evans - Operations
John Olson - Faith Formation
Matt Torpey - HR Subcommittee
Grayson Torpey (Youth Representative)
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Other Key Leadership Positions
Bob Hartung, Finance Chair
Dave Kipphut, Property Chair
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To view the list of our ministries and contacts, click HERE.
To contact a vestry member, please email the church office:
stpeter654@gmail.com.
