Church Staff

The Rev. Richard A. Ginnever: Rector

Richard has served as Rector of Christ Church since June of 2001. He serves Christ Church with a great deal of prior experience, having previously served five churches in four dioceses. He also currently serves the diocese as Secretary of Diocesan Convention and recently co-chaired the Search Committee for the 14th Bishop of Maryland.

The work of the Rector is wide-ranging. A number of responsibilities ultimately fall on his desk, though these tasks are shared with the staff and the lay leadership of Christ Church. Central to Richard’s work as Rector is to coordinate the team effort of the entire staff, covering all aspects of Christian ministries in the parish.

Richard finds this ministry to be uplifting and declares that he is “energized by the Sunday morning experience of our community gathering for worship, in Word and Sacrament.” He also loves teaching Bible Study.  The five-year project to revitalize our 200-year-old “Old Brick” church has been a major delight for him.  He continues to investigate the history of Christ Church, with specific focus upon the 32 Rectors who served before him.

Looking ahead, Richard sees opportunities to increase efforts in Outreach and Spiritual Formation, especially as Christ Church approaches several milestone anniversaries including 300 years of Christian community. Building on that dream of our spiritual ancestors is Richard’s ongoing challenge and opportunity for the parish

Richard and Carolyn Dehler Ginnever have been married since 1969. Their four children are grown, and they are expecting their fourth grandchild late in 2010. Richard was educated at the University of Miami, Florida and Nashotah House Seminary, receiving a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Divinity degrees, respectively.

Richard is an avid Civil War student, with special interest in the battle of Gettysburg.  He can also be found rooting on his lifelong sports love – the New York Yankees.

Maggie Caldwell: Parish Administrator

Maggie began her service to Christ Church as Parish Administrator on January 1, 2000 -  the dawn of the millennium. Her history here goes back further, however, as she and her family worshiped here from 1975 to 1985.  She has enjoyed living into this new relationship with the parish and the opportunity to reacquaint herself with Christ Church, both familiar faces and new parishioners.  Maggie’s background is varied, including teaching elementary school, daycare provider and healthcare administrator.

During the week, Maggie is the first person many people see or hear when contacting Christ Church.  Whether by phone or as people visit the office, Maggie gives a warm welcome.  Christ Church is a busy place during the week, with many different groups, parish and community, using our facilities. Maggie fields space requests and maintains the parish calendar.  She is our record-keeper, documenting membership transfers, baptisms, confirmations, marriages and burials in our Parish Register.  Additionally, she produces the Sunday service leaflet and the Weekly News.

Maggie enjoys her work at Christ Church, particularly the opportunity to work with nice people – with the rest of the staff, with parishioners and others.  There is a lot of work to coordinate in the regular life of the parish and Maggie works hard to keep the parish systems functioning well and efficiently.

Maggie is married to Alan Caldwell, a retired Howard County music teacher; their three daughters with their families all live in the area. Maggie and Alan “delight in our increasing collection of grandchildren!” She also enjoys gardening and travel.

Linda Hayes: Director, Christ Church Link

Unlike many Howard County residents, Linda is a fourth-generation Marylander. Her mother’s Italian Roman Catholic family walked to St. Elizabeth’s for daily morning mass and Linda attended Baltimore Catholic schools for twelve years.

Her early career highlights included work in a corporate social responsibility program and as a national charitable foundation and scholarship plan coordinator.

Linda married Michael Hayes in 1970 and after the birth of their daughter, Michelle, in 1976, she started freelance writing from home for local papers, then regional and national magazines. That led to the founding of a literary agency in 1980. Several hundred books and twenty years later, she retired briefly to explore her love of photography (see www.pbase.com/lindah) and work with FISH of Howard County – while exploring options for her next professional and personal challenges.

Both of those passions arrived in February of 2006 with the job of Coordinator of Christ Church Link and the birth of her grandson, Tony (and in 2008 a granddaughter, Kaitlyn). Life has been a rich whirl ever since!

From today’s perspective, Linda says:  “Christ Link continually strives to fulfill the Outreach Commission’s mandate to bring fresh vision to the ministry’s traditional work of helping our neighbors in need. We not only listen and respond to our crisis helpline callers’ problems, we work proactively within the community and human services network to explore and support  solutions.”

Jenifer Krieger Johnson: Sexton

Jenifer has been employed at Christ Church as Sexton since 2002.  She has been a member here since 1998, and comes from a long line of Episcopalians (5^th generation!).  Jenifer holds a BS in Business Management (“fascinated by efficiency but hopelessly disorganized”) and has worked in many different fields, including making miniature furniture and as a lab assistant at the Naval Historical Center Underwater Archaeology Conservation Laboratory at the Washington Navy Yard .

As Sexton, Jenifer is responsible for the maintenance of the parish’s three buildings on campus.  She does the routine maintenance work, helps Buildings and Grounds coordinate volunteers for special projects, and also serves as the contact for external contractors and supply companies.  Given that around 500 people use our facilities each week, this is quite a challenge for an 18-hour work week.

Additionally, Jenifer has been coordinating the research and contractors in the restoration of Old Brick.  She also serves, as a parishioner, on the Old Brick Committee, and enjoys assisting genealogical researchers who contact us for information.  She is one of our Fire Marshalls and keeps an eye on safety at the parish.  Jenifer finds great joy in working with a staff and congregation who are easy to get along with, and she is really glad not to commute to DC anymore.

Jenifer was born in DC and grew up as an Air Force “brat.”  She has been married since 1984 to “the very patient George.”  They have one daughter, Faith, a graduate of the film program at Emerson College in Boston.  Jenifer is a member of the Archaeological Society of Maryland and enjoys colonial history, travel, Packards, films, dogs, cats and Sousa marches.  She is working on her family’s genealogy and reveals that “I’m an Aries and an Irish-German warrior (Krieger), which may explain my frequent rants, and am one-sixteenth Australian Aborigine (Koori; my serener side), which is never on the demographic forms.”

HouFei Yang: Organist & Choirmaster

Cynthia Willis, R.N.: Parish Nurse

Parish Nursing (Faith Community Nursing) is still present in here in Howard County.  A Parish Nurse (Faith Community Nurse) is a registered professional nurse, actively licensed with the state, who serves as a member of the staff of a faith community.  The overall functioning of this nurse is to provide information to help parishioners with a holistic view that includes Body, Mind and Spirit.

Cynthia conducts blood pressure screenings on the third Sunday of the month – except in July and August.  She also attends many of the Howard County Parish Nurse meeting.  She regularly updates our parishioners on health and wellness issues that affect our community, such as H1N1, cold and flu season, stress, and alternative ways to achieve, improve, or maintain heath and wellness.

Elizabeth Richardson: Nursery Care