Green Mountain Witness
The Green Mountain Witness Team includes people from all over Vermont who are committed to catalyzing Episcopalians to an evangelistic lifestyle. We’re open to others joining us. If interested, please email Titus Presler or any of the team members.
Members
Joe Fortner
A part-time Vermonter, Joe is a business litigation and intellectual property attorney practicing in Connecticut. Having grown up in but then wandered away from the Episcopal Church, he found St. Mary’s in Wilmington, where he is a vestry member and is involved in many ministries. For five years he has organized and performed (guitar with his vocalist wife Holly) during services, in its Red Door Concert series and in secular settings, including their annual “Moosestock” on Lake Raponda. In “nonreligious” music, Joe has discovered faith, joy and hope waiting to be brought out and discussed. Holly and Joe have two adult daughters and enjoy Lake Raponda and the wonders of Vermont with their dog and two cats. Email.
Lindsey Huddle
“As a cradle Episcopalian, I learned early that one’s relationship with God is primary.” Lindsey has served on the board of Rock Point School; attended General Convention in the late 1990s; served on the vestry at her parish, St. James’ in Essex, where she also offered Christian formation with youth; and is on the board of Cooperative Christian Ministry at UVM. “There and in my private legal practice I find myself swimming in a very secular sea, where some friends are open to conversation about faith, and others wonder why I cling to what they consider a fantasy of God.” Lindsey and her husband have two adult daughters, Bess and Molly, and three grandchildren. Daughter Molly Huddle is on the staff at Rock Point School. Email.
Jennifer (Jenny) Ogelby
A native Vermonter and a cradle Episcopalian, Jenny has been a member of St. James’, Essex, for 54 years, where she sings in the choir, plays handbells, leads Children’s Chapel and heads the Altar Guild. She’s been a deputy to four General Conventions, where she has served on the Committee on Formation, which is her passion. She is a past manager of Hopkins Bookshop and director of Rock Point Summer Camp. She is married with two children, one grandson and another on the way. Email.
Titus Presler
Vicar of St. Matthew’s, Enosburg Falls, Titus convenes the Green Mountain Witness Team, serves on the Commission on Ministry and was a 2018 General Convention deputy. A missiologist with experience in India, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, he is president of the Global Episcopal Mission Network. Educated at Harvard, General Seminary and Boston University, he has taught at EDS, Harvard, General and Seminary of the Southwest, where he was president. Among many publications are Horizons of Mission in the New Church’s Teaching Series and Going Global with God: Reconciling Mission in a World of Difference. He and his wife the Rev. Jane Butterfield have four children and eight grandchildren. Email.
Katie Runde
Katie Runde is an artist and soul sax player based in Bethel. Her painting integrates her ongoing studies in theology and wisdom traditions with the honed technical proficiency of contemporary realism while her art teaching borders on the theological. She holds a BA in Folklore and Ethnography from University College Cork in Ireland and an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago Divinity School. She continues to inform her studies in Christian theology and mysticism with supplements from world religions, mythology, folklore, linguistics, and studies in the nature and evolution of consciousness. She is a postulant for Holy Orders and a long-time lay preacher at Christ Church in Bethel. Email.
Michelle Thomas
Michelle is a member of St Andrew’s Church in Colchester, where she serves as crucifer, lector, intercessor, convention delegate, member of the hospitality and worship committees, and leads Morning Prayer. A graduate of UVM with a B.A. in English and Film, she spent a year at the Pacific School of Religion before earning a Masters of Library Science from SUNY Albany. She works in health information management at the UVM Medical Center. She has a wide and varied faith experience, calling herself a “Charismatic Anglo-Orthodox Catholic.” She lives in Burlington with her two cats and pursues interests in music, computers, comics, science fiction and the outdoor. Email.