To contact any staff member at the church office, call (512) 476-3523.

The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd Staff

Clergy

• Rev. Morgan S. Allen, Rector - About

  Morgan began ministry at Good Shepherd in May of 2009, after serving parishes in Louisiana and Texas, as a priest, deacon, and lay professional. Born in Monroe, Louisiana, and raised in Shreveport, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Louisiana State University and received his M.Div from the Seminary of the Southwest, in Austin. Morgan and his wife, the former Missy Boutte, were high school sweethearts and have two children, Michael Stephens and Mary Virginia; an old beagle named Buddy; and several 1972 Buick Gran Sports.

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• Rev. Chris Duncan, Priest for Outreach & Youth - About

  Chris began ministry at Good Shepherd in July of 2009, after graduating from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia where he served as a seminarian at St. Columba's Episcopal Church in Northwest Washington, DC. Born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Richmond, he graduated from Texas A&M University in 2004. While in college, he worked as the Director of Youth Ministries at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in College Station. After graduation, he worked for a company that provides video, print, and web assistance to churches and other non-profits during capital stewardship campaigns. Chris and his wife, Casey, met at Camp Allen in high school, but did not start dating until college. They were married one month before leaving for seminary in 2006. Chris works with the outreach groups at Good Shepherd and sits on the outreach committee. He is the clergy member that speaks with those requesting assistance from the parish ministry fund. Additionally, Chris works with the Director of EYC, Alex Easley, with GS acolytes, organizes youth confirmation each year, and contributes to youth Sunday school.

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• Rev. Kelly M. Koonce, Priest for Hospitality & Formation - About

  Kelly first came to Good Shepherd as Assistant Rector after graduating from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest (ETSS) in 2002. Two years later he left the parish to pursue doctoral studies in Christian spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Kelly, his wife Kimberley and their daughter Callan returned to Good Shepherd in 2007. He was appointed Locum Tenens in March 2008. Kelly now serves at Good Shepherd as the Priest for Hospitality & Formation.

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• Rev. Kathy Pfister, Priest for Pastoral Care & Small Groups - About

  Kathy began her ministry at Church of the Good Shepherd in July of 2010 after graduating from the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. Prior to seminary Kathy served as the Missioner for Young Adult & Youth Ministries in the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina (2000-2007) and as the director of youth ministry at Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans (1994-2000). Born and raised in New Orleans, she traveled east for college and graduated from The American University (1991) in Washington, DC. She and her husband Phil have two children: Charles and Camille. As Priest for Pastoral Care & Small Groups Kathy continues to develop and fine tune the pastoral care services offered at Good Shepherd. Working with the Eucharistic Visitors as well as St. Bridget's Guild and Altar Guild our hope is to attend to our parishioners with care and love. Three small groups for women were formed this fall with great success. Kathy will continue to experiment and develop small group opportunities, including co-ed groups.

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• Rev. Charles James Cook, Assisting Clergy - About

  Charlie is a retired Professor of Pastoral Theology at the ETSS. He served as interim rector at Good Shepherd from 1998 to 2000. Earlier, he served churches in the dioceses of Northwest Texas, North Carolina and Missouri. He is a graduate of Drake University and ETSS. His wife, Chris, served 15 years as Head of Good Shepherd School.

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• Rev. Dr. Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, Assisting Clergy - About

  Cynthia is Professor of New Testament and Academic Dean at the Seminary of the Southwest. A graduate of Williams College, she received her M.Div., Th.M., and Th.D from Harvard. She taught at Harvard and at the College of the Holy Cross. She is the author of Community and Authority: The Rhetoric of Obedience in the Pauline Tradition (1998) and Conversations with Scripture: The Gospel of John (2007). She and husband Frank have three children: Rachel, Emily and Henry.

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• Rev. Robert Terhune, Assisting Clergy - About

  Bob served numerous Florida churches before assuming a chaplaincy at Ft. Logan Mental Health Center in Denver and later at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston. He was head of the English department at Houston Community College from 1971 until his retirement in 1994. Bob is a graduate of Yale University and the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. He is married to Lorna Terhune.

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Programming & Music

• Jonathan Babcock, Choirmaster About

  Jonathan serves part-time as Choirmaster of the Good Shepherd Choir and Evensong Choir. A respected choral musician, educator, and clinician throughout the US, Jonathan is an assistant professor at Texas State University, where he conducts the University Singers and Men’s Choir and teaches choral conducting, literature, and pedagogy. Prior to coming to Texas State, Jonathan served on the faculty of the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College (City University of New York). A native of Binghamton, New York, he was admitted to the degrees of Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music at the Crane School of Music (State University of New York at Potsdam), and Doctor of Musical Arts at the Hartt School (University of Hartford).

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• Jeane Burks, Coordinator of Children's Ministies - About

  Jeane has been part of Good Shepherd for over 20 years, first singing in the Good Shepherd Choir then subsequently joining the church. She directs the Primary and Junior Choirs and oversees Children’s Ministries. Previously, Jeane was the Early Childhood Music Coordinator/Opera Program Specialist at the Austin Lyric Opera/Armstrong Community Music School as well as having taught preschool for Good Shepherd Episcopal School and at Hyde Park Baptist CDC. She has a MM from UT and is married to Paul Burks.

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• Eric Mellenbruch, Director of Music / Organist About

  Eric has been Organist of Good Shepherd since 2000 and was named Interim Director of Music in August 2008. Before coming to Good Shepherd, he studied graphic design at the University of Houston, earned degrees in church music and organ performance from Baylor University, and served as music intern at the Seminary of the Southwest. Eric is responsible for the musical component of over 200 liturgies each year (three celebrations of the Holy Eucharist each Sunday, Choral Evensong each month, weddings, funerals, and other occasional services) and for a music ministry which involves not only the whole congregation, but also four choirs and their two directors, choral scholars, cantors, clergy, organ, piano, bells, and other instruments, and includes occasional outreach opportunities and concerts on our campus. He also produces all printed worship aids and oversees maintenance of the church’s musical instruments.

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Administration

• Lisa Andrews Ard, Parish Accountant - About

  Lisa Ard was born and raised in Austin and graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in Retail Merchandising. She is married to Mike, her husband of 22 years, and they have two boys — Austin and Adam. After a short stint as an area sales manager for a department store chain, she returned to work in her family sporting goods business until 2007 when she went to Triumphant Love Lutheran Church as the bookkeeper. She and her family are avid Texas Longhorn fans and enjoy sports of all kinds. Lisa is a cradle Episcopalian and attended preschool at Good Shepherd. She is delighted to be back!

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• Fernanda Barceló, Receptionist - About

  Fernanda grew up in Laredo, TX and earned a Bachelor's in Psychology from the University of Texas, San Antonio in 2008, and is currently working towards her Masters in Counseling at St. Edward's University. Fernanda moved to Austin in July of 2008 and immediately fell in love with the city, people and culture. As Receptionist, Fernanda greets all who enter Good Shepherd and directs calls to various staff members. Fernanda also works closely with Sallie in various administrative duties. Apart from working part-time at Good Shepherd, Fernanda enjoys spending her time doing yoga, traveling, and hanging out with her Schnauzer, Frida!

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• Miguel Figueroa, Facilities Manager - About

  Miguel has worked for the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd since 2005. The majority of his work is upkeep of the facilities, setup/breakdown of events, hobo wrangling, facility staff management, and liaison between vendors and the church. Miguel's experience stems from watching what his dad did wrong and understanding that you do everything the way you would want it done for yourself.

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• Kathy Jolink, Office Manager - About

  Kathy has been a member of Good Shepherd for 20 years. She has served as a Lay Eucharistic Minister, Lay Reader, Adult Christian Education Chair and Sunday School teacher. A UT graduate in Plan II, Kathy has experience as a legal assistant/bookkeeper and served as Financial Administrator at Good Shepherd from 2008-2010 before beginning her current position as Office Manager. In addition to her position as Office Manager, Kathy serves as Wedding Coordinator at Good Shepherd. The chief duties of wedding coordinator include communicating with participants wishing to get married at Good Shepherd, setting them up on our wedding calendar, providing them with a wedding packet regarding wedding protocol at GS from flowers and music to photography and the service itself. Every few months, a wedding seminar is held that Kathy organizes including about 5-6 couples per session. The night of the rehearsal, the clergy officiating and wedding hostess coach wedding participants through the rehearsal and on the day of the wedding, the coordinator assists both the bridal party, groom, groomsmen and ushers through the ceremony and oversees clean-up following the wedding.

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• Sallie Wright Milam, Administrative Assistant - About

  Sallie Wright joined The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd staff in March of 2010 as Administrative Assistant. Sallie Wright grew up in Greenville, MS and was graduated from The University of the South: Sewanee in May of 2009 with a Bachelor's in Spanish Language & Literature. As Administrative Assistant, Sallie is responsible for all membership record keeping, updating contact information, maintaining the prayer list, designing, editing and printing the This Week in Sunday’s bulletins, scheduling baptisms, creating baptism certificates, printing and folding Sunday’s bulletins, working with our off-site graphic designer for the monthly Voice and overseeing its’ delivery. Sallie maintains the GS program calendar and reserves spaces for staff and parishioners as requested. Sallie also works with Rev. Morgan Allen and Kathy Jolink to complete all administrative tasks as needed by the Good Shepherd Staff and Parish.

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