Faith in Action Lenten Study Series

Four parishioners will share how they answer this question. Ed Birch, Pat McClure, Sameer Yadav, and Leah Watson will guide us through our own reflections on this question as they share their stories with us. The series will open with Rev. Aimee teaching a session on the nature of baptismal ministry, through which Christ calls each of us to put our faith in action in our daily lives. each of us carries out ministry in the world around us, but often we fail to recognize our actions as Christian ministry. Together let’s journey more deeply into the call of our Christian faith this Lent. Sign up at the information table on the patio.

Wednesday, March 8: The Rev. Aimee Eyer-Delevett, What is Baptismal Ministry: A general introduction to baptismal ministry

Leah is originally from Northern California, finding her way to Santa Barbara via Westmont College, where she graduated in 1997. The following year, on a Sundaymorning, she shook the new associate pastor’s hand in the doorway of El Montecito Presbyterian and then proceeded to marry The Rev. Dr. Mark Watson the following year. Leah served as a pastor’s wife for twelve years alongside Mark in Presbyterian churches in Santa Barbara, Silicon Valley and North Carolina. During this season they were blessed with the birth of two children, Benjamin and Clara — who continue to be a blessing, now in 3rd and 2nd grade at Montecito Union School (both are alum of All Saints Parish School). A few years ago, Mark transitioned out of traditional pastoral ministry into working with the elderly as the chaplain at Valle Verde retirement community and founding Watson Fiduciary. For the first time the Watson Family could “church shop” and to their delight All Saints become home. Their first Sunday here, Clara snuggled up to Leah after receiving communion and said, “I think God wants us here.” They never left. Leah is the Director of Marketing for a local academic publisher and also does consulting work in content development, strategy and web design. Her greatest joys are adventures with her family, dance parties in the living room, spiritual journaling and all sorts of domestic puttering.

Ed Birch has provided an extraordinary breadth and depth of volunteer service to nonprofit organizations in Santa Barbara, including the UC Santa Barbara Foundation, Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy (DPEA), Community Arts Music Association (CAMA), Westmont University, Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics (SBNC), Music Academy of the West, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and Child Abuse Listening & Mediation (CALM). This work adds to his long history of public service and is in addition to his role as president and CEO of the Samuel B. and Margaret C. Mosher Foundation. Ed was the Santa Barbara Foundation’s 73^rdMan of the Year. At All Saints, Ed has served on the Outreach Committee and chaired the Centennial Campaign. Ed currently serves as co-chair of the Sanctuary Preservation and Readiness Project and as a Sunday Greeter. He and his wife Sue usually attend the 8 a.m. service.

Pat started out teaching art with an MA from Stanford and a stint as a Fulbright Scholar. In the ‘80’s she founded two educational non-profits: The Human Curriculum and Community Human Intelligence Projects – which earned her a MacArthur Award. In the ‘90’s her work turned to the links between neural science and religious experience which she explored in college classrooms and inter-church projects. All Saints has been the family with whom she raised 3 remarkable daughters and been active for over 4 decades. In 1997 she led our church in a national pilot project teaching inner listening – Listening Hearts. The project changed the lives of those who made it a personal practice and sprouted into a group of ministries under her leadership – all based on spiritual practice: Centering Prayer in 2004, the Befrienders’ Group in 2005, the development of a 3rd Liturgy called Eventide (Pat gave it its name) in 2007, the Healing Presence Project in 2008, and the Wisdom Christianity group in 2010.

Sameer Yadav is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Westmont College. Sameer earned a B.A. in philosophy from Boise State University, an M.Div. from Master’s Seminary, an S.T.M. in theology from Yale Divinity School, and a Th.D. in theology and ethics from Duke University Divinity School, with a primary concentration in systematic and philosophical theology and secondary concentrations in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and moral theology. He joined the faculty of Westmont College in 2015, after completing a post-doctoral teaching fellowship at the John Wesley Honors College of Indiana Wesleyan University. Sameer is the author of The Problem of Perception and the Experience of God (Fortress Press, 2015). Current projects include a book on Gregory of Nyssa for the Cascade Companions series. In 2009-2010 he was awarded a North American Doctoral Fellowship by the Fund for Theological Education, given to underrepresented minority scholars judged to hold particular promise as leaders in both church and academy. Sameer, his wife Whitney, and his children Noah, Ezra and Ella attend the 10 a.m. service, and his children are active in Godly Play.