Welcome Sally Benton

Dear St. John's, 

As we begin to shift to the start of our fall program year, I am delighted to inform you that we will soon welcome a new staff member to our parish. Sarah (Sally) Paris Benton has agreed to join our staff and serve as our Director of Children, Youth, and Family.

Sally is excited to build connections at St. Johns and serve children, youth, and their families. She will be moving from Sewanee, Tennessee, where her husband Wallace, recently served as a Lay Chaplain at the University of the South. Wallace’s call to accept a staff position at the Center for Lifelong Learning at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, is what brings them to Northern Virginia. Sally and Wallace will be joined with their children Wells and Perry along with their pup, Bishop. At home she enjoys cooking new food with her family and designing and sewing clothes for her children.

I am grateful for those who served as an advisory committee to help call Sally to St. John’s: Nicole Brightbill, Shelli Bushman, Margaret Kerfoot, Sarah Lang, Sarah Tyler, and the Rev. Andrew Moore. Sally will be with us by September, and looks forward to meeting you out on the Great Lawn for the Kickoff Sunday Picnic and Kids Fair on Sunday, September 10!

Welcome, Sally, and traveling mercies for you all in your move here! And to all of you, I hope you have a safe, blessed, and joyful summer.

Faithfully,

The Reverend Joshua D. Walters

Rector 

Welcome Dr. Karl Robson

Dear Friends,

In recent weeks we have begun making plans to celebrate Dr. John Wulff’s ministry here at St. John’s. At the same time, recognizing the importance of the music program in the life of our community, we have been working hard to ensure its continuity and strength this fall and beyond. On July 17 I was pleased to inform the Vestry that Dr. Karl Robson has accepted our offer to become our Interim Director of Music. He will be joining our staff full-time, and his call as interim will be for a two year period with a time of mutual discernment at the 18 month mark. His first Sunday with us will be September 3.

Karl was raised in the Lutheran church, serving several congregations in Minnesota throughout high school and college. He completed undergraduate work magna cum laude with departmental distinction in Church Music and Organ Performance at St. Olaf College, where he was a student of Dr. Catherine Rodland. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts as well as the Master of Music in Organ Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with David Higgs. As a graduate student in Rochester, New York, he served as Assistant Director of Music at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where he was formally received into the denomination. The choirs from St. Paul’s embarked on an unforgettable two-week tour to St. Alban’s and Ely Cathedrals (England) in 2013.

Karl was a recipient of the Ruth and Paul Manz Scholarship and the Peter B. Knock Award — scholarships awarded to promising young church musicians — as well as Eastman’s James B. Cochran Organ Prize and Gerald Barnes Award in Organ, given for outstanding recital and jury performances within the school’s organ department. He was a semi-finalist in the 2015 St. Alban’s International Organ Competition (UK).

When not on the bench, Karl enjoys distance running, raiding Washington, D.C.’s record stores for classical recordings on vinyl, enjoying the culinary talents of his partner Adam Detzner (also a church musician, serving as Minister of Music and Organist at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Annandale), and watching classic films.

I am grateful to Linda Mabbs, Vestry member Sue Perry, Jamie Stirn, and the Rev. Andrew Moore for their time in serving as a counsel of advice in this call.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Karl Robson to St. John's McLean.

Faithfully,

The Reverend Joshua D. Walters

Rector