The Rev. Jerry Sather, Interim Priest-in-Charge
Office phone: 949.888.4568
Contact by Email
Stephen Lovejoy, Head of School
949.858.5144, x222
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Rebecca Swartz, Administrator
949.888.4595 x234
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Dr. Johannes M. Stosch, Director of Music Ministry
562.985.5435
Contact by Email
Chrissy Hennings, Director of Children’s Ministry
949.291.6141
Contact by Email
The Rev. Jerry Sather, Interim Priest-in-Charge
The Rev. Jerry E. Sather is our new Interim Priest-in-Charge at St John Chrysostom Episcopal Church and School. He is an Episcopal Priest and retired military chaplain with 34 years of ministry experience in churches and the chaplaincy.
Father Jerry was born and raised in Montana and grew up in the Methodist tradition. After one year of college, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as a saxophonist with assignments in San Francisco and overseas in Germany where he met his British wife, Annette. Following his active-duty Army service, Father Jerry returned to his home state and completed a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Montana. Sensing a call to ministry, he enrolled at Portland Seminary in Oregon, graduating with a M.Div. in 1988. He answered a pastoral call to New Jersey where he served a Nazarene Church for seven years and a United Methodist Church for four years. Throughout his ministry in New Jersey, Father Jerry also served as a U.S. Army Reserve Chaplain.
Father Jerry entered the U.S. Air Force, now as Chaplain Sather, in 1999. His first assignment was back in his home State of Montana where he served as pastor to the liturgical service. This began his long journey to the Episcopal Church under the influence of a fellow chaplain and future Bishop for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries, the Rt. Rev. Carl Wright.
Chaplain Sather’s career took him around the world with assignments to Turkey, England, Nebraska, Japan, Florida, California, and back to England. His deployments include: Operation Southern Watch (Saudi Arabia); Command Chaplain, Joint Psychological Operations Task Force (Qatar, Iraq, and Afghanistan); and Deputy Command Chaplain, Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa supporting military missions and building relations with African chaplains. Father Jerry served as a Wing Chaplain (senior base chaplain) three times and achieved his highest position as Command Chaplain for Special Operations Command Central coordinating care for Special Operations Forces in the Middle East in the midst of the ISIS crisis.
Chaplain Sather is a five-time recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal. He also received the Humanitarian Service Medal for support to the Japanese people in the wake of the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011. Favorite military career highlights include leading pilgrims to visit Ephesus in Turkey, praying at the American Cemetery in Cambridge, England on the 60th anniversary of D-Day, and preaching for Evensong at Oriel College, Oxford on Remembrance Sunday.
Father Jerry completed a Certificate in Anglican Studies in 2016 and was ordained to the Diaconate in the Diocese of Southwest Florida that same year. He was ordained Priest in 2017. Following his retirement from the Air Force in 2020, Jerry accepted a call as interim Priest-in-Charge at St Francis Episcopal Church in Palos Verdes Estates leading them through COVID and a pastoral search. Upon the completion of his interim ministry at St Francis, Bishop Taylor invited Jerry to consider becoming the Interim Priest-in-Charge at St John’s. Jerry brings a wide range of experience in leadership, preaching, liturgics, pastoral care, and strategic planning. His ministry gifts are in preaching, teaching, and Christian formation.
Jerry and his wife, Annette, have been married for 40 years. They have three adult children; their two daughters live in Southern California and their son lives in Omaha, Nebraska with their granddaughter. They enjoy cooking, reading, movies, music, hiking, live theater, and spending time with family and friends.
Dr. Johannes M. Stosch, Director of Music Ministry
Dr. Johannes M. Stosch is our Director of Music Ministries at St. John’s. He currently serves as Director of Orchestral Studies and conductor of the Bob Cole Conservatory Symphony Orchestra at CSU Long Beach. He was also appointed Music Director and Conductor of the Orange County Youth Symphony. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, Rochester NY and earned two Master of Music degrees in organ performance and orchestral conducting from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Johannes began studying piano at age seven and moved to the organ at 12 and started to sub for church services right away. He was offered his first official organ position at age 15 at the Christuskirche in his native Wittenberg (town of Martin Luther’s reformation in 1517). He continued studying organ and conducting and organized his first choral concerts at age 16. After coming to the U.S. as an exchange student he won a high school piano competition in Georgia and was offered a full scholarship at the prestigious Schwob School of Music in Georgia. He completed his Bachelors in Voice and Organ and moved on to graduate study in Cincinnati.
Concert tours as conductor, soloist and collaborative artist have taken Johannes throughout Korea, Germany, Italy, Chile, and Japan. He has several commercial recordings to his credit. He recorded several CDs of Jewish Choral Music for Bonia Shur at Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati that received critical acclaim. His CD celebrating the renovation of Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church’s Casavant Frères organ (Rochester, NY) has been featured on NPR’s With Heart and Voice. His principal conducting teachers were Neil Varon (Eastman School) and Mark Gibson (College-Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati).
He studied organ with Hans Davidsson (Eastman School), Roberta Gary (Cincinnati) and Klaus-Dieter Mücksch (Germany). Previous positions include Music Director/Organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach, Organist at First Presbyterian Church in San Pedro and Music Director at Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY, Grace Lutheran in Cincinnati, and Rose Hill Baptist Church in Columbus, GA. He began at St. John’s July 1, 2019.
Chrissy Hennings, Director of Children’s Ministry
Chrissy and Russ Hennings joined St. John’s church shortly before their daughter, Acacia, went to school at St. John’s Episcopal School. They instantly fell in the love with the school and decided to make St. John’s their church home as well. Chrissy was raised in the Catholic church but felt a strong connection with the Episcopal Church which is the denomination in which Russ was raised. Russ’s father was also an Episcopal priest. St. John’s has been a truly welcoming place for their family. Chrissy enjoys spending time with her family and friends, cooking, working out, and shopping!
Chrissy began serving as the Director of Children’s Ministries in May 2021.