Father Ward has served as the Rector of St. Bartholomew's since 1998. He received his B.A. in History from SUNY at Buffalo; a M.A. in Practical Theology from Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA; and a M. Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA.
Fr. Ward and his wife Kathleen have two adult children, Arthur and Alyssa.
Deacon Bush serves as Curate of St. Bartholomew's. He graduated from SUNY Fredonia in 2001 with a B.S. in Mathematics, and received his M. Div. from Northeastern Seminary.
He met his wife, Alana, at SUNY Fredonia, and were married shortly after graduation. They have six children: Emily, Autumn, Malachi, Hadassah, Ephraim and Eden. Malachi went home to be with Jesus in 2011.
Liz Burkett started serving as the Director of Christian Education in January of 2018 and has been working as a Children and Youth Director for almost 10 years in the WNY area. She received her B.A. in Family Life Education, with a concentration in Youth Ministry, from Concordia University.
Liz and her husband Laird Joshua have been married four years and enjoy cooking and traveling together.
James has been on staff at St. Bart's since 2012 where he oversees facility and media operations and serves as worship leader for the contemporary music ministry. He is also an accomplished songwriter and loves to play old time banjo.
James and his wife Kristie have two young children, Khloe and Eli.
Eileen Arnold has attended St. Bart's for over 20 years and began directing the junior choir in 2015. She also directs the contemporary choir and coordinates the youth music ministry. Outside of church, Eileen teaches Latin, piano and voice.
Eileen and her husband Jon have three adult children and two grandchildren.
The board of trustees for the Church shall be known as the vestry (the "Vestry") and shall consist of twelve individuals, four of which shall be elected each year at the annual meeting of the Church to serve for a term of three years. For purposes of the New York Religious Corporation Law, the Vestry shall be the trustees of the Church, and shall be responsible to hold all property of the Church in trust for the members of the Church, and as such shall exercise authority over the temporal and financial affairs of the Church.
Your 2020 Vestry members are from left to right:
Front Row: Jonathan Merrick, Bob Hughes, Cheryl MacDonald, Carl Hoffman, Linda Doran, Tony Luckoski
Back Row: Mike Brylinski, Lori Abramo, John Hillestad, John Krull and Rocco Brindisi. (Not Pictured Tom Brown)