BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Martha B. Alexander
Diocese of North Carolina
On the GEMN Board Martha chairs the Bylaws Revision Committee and the Finance Committee and is a member of the Mission Formation Team. A member of Christ Church, Charlotte, in the Diocese of North Carolina, she serves on the Botswana-North Carolina Companion Link Committee and chairs the Dispatch of Business Committee for diocesan convention. Martha is chair of Companion Dioceses for Province IV. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Church Pension Fund and a member of the Executive Council Committee on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Martha has served as a deputy from the Diocese of North Carolina to the General Convention since 2003. She chaired the House of Deputies Legislative Committee on World Mission at the 2015 General Convention, and at the 2018 General Convention she served on the Task Force on the Episcopal Church in Cuba. Her mission work on behalf of her parish and diocese includes Haiti, Costa Rica, Belize and Botswana. Martha holds a B.S. from Florida State University, two M.A.s from the University of North Carolina, and the Ed.D. from Northeastern University.
The Rev. Jean Beniste
Christ Church, Waukegan, Ill.; Diocese of Chicago
“A native of Haiti, I was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition, where I worked as a missionary in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In 2001, I married Monica Beniste (originally from Mexico) who is the mother our two daughters, Annelise and Solange. We are an intercultural family with a joyful spirit. We like meeting people and making new friends, and we love to share our culture with others. I am fluent in four languages, (Creole, French, Spanish and English). In 2003, I was received into the Episcopal Church at Trinity Cathedral in Miami, Florida, where I discerned a call to become an Episcopal priest. I attended the Virginia Theological Seminary and in 2014 was ordained to the priesthood. I began my ordained ministry at St. Paul’s Parish, K Street, in Washington, D.C., and then became the missionary priest-in-charge of Holy Redeemer Episcopal Church, a bilingual ministry in Lake Worth, Florida. I was later canon for Latino ministry at Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis. I am currently rector of Christ Episcopal Church, Waukegan, in the Diocese of Chicago. As a missionary in the Episcopal Church, I enjoy ministering in cross-cultural contexts and speaking about mission. I dialogue with groups and cultures to discover God’s revelation in other cultures and help people discover God in their own culture.”
The Rev. Dr. James Boston
Diocese of Oregon
Jim Boston was ordained in 1978 and has been semi-retired since 2009. A retired Naval Reserve chaplain, he is interim rector of St. George’s, Roseburg, Oregon, and chaplain at the hospital in his home town of Grants Pass, Oregon. Jim has had a lifelong interest in mission, and has visited, worked and worshipped with Anglicans in 23 different countries. He was on the planning committee for the start of GEMN in 1994, and has served as newsletter editor, board member, secretary and president. He and his wife Pam, a former missionary in Nepal, have led the Global Mission Committee of their diocese for many years. Jim has been a deputy or alternate to numerous General Conventions. His entire ordained ministry has been as a parish priest in the Diocese of Oregon. Churchwide he has worked with Jubilee Ministries and the National Network of Episcopal Clergy Associations. He was educated at the School of International Service of American University (Washington, D.C.), Church Divinity School of the Pacific (M.Div.), Oxford University (Cert. Theol.) and Virginia Theological Seminary (D.Min.).
The Rev. Jaime Briceño
Bexley Seabury Seminary
Jaime has served since 2016 as the recruiter and digital missioner at Bexley Hall Seabury-Western Theological Seminary Federation in Chicago, where he has developed online open houses and virtual reality tours to reach a more diverse group of students. A native of Costa Rica, he is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Ordained a transitional deacon in 2019, he serves as ministry associate at St. Mark’s Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a multi-cultural and bilingual community where he assisted with mission trips to Mexico, Madagascar and Appalachia. Now a priest, he is rector of the Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Berwyn, Illinois. His global mission involvement began with international border issues in the Roman Catholic Diocese of New Mexico, and Jaime is currently enrolled in GEMN’s Mission Formation Program. He holds the B.A. degree from Conception Seminary College and the research M.A. degree in systematic theology from Catholic Theological Union. He taught ethics at La Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología in Costa Rica. “Missionary activity plays an important role in bringing aid and spiritual comfort to war-torn and poverty-ravished areas,” he says. “I hope that every seminary student will have the opportunity and expectation to participate in at least one mission trip during their studies.”
The Rev. Dr. Grace Burton-Edward, Secretary
St. Thomas Church, Columbus, Ga.; Diocese of Atlanta
Vice president of GEMN, Grace is a member of the Global Mission Commission of the Diocese of Atlanta, which supports a relationship with the Diocese of Cape Coast in Ghana. Grace has served as rector of St. Thomas Church in Columbus since 2014 and is a member of the General Convention’s Standing Commission on World Mission. Grace is the orginator and co-author of the 2020 GEMN publication Questing: The Way of Love in Global Mission. Initially ordained as an American Baptist pastor in 1994, she served in American Baptist, United Methodist and ecumenical settings before discerning a call to the Episcopal Church, where she was ordained a priest in 2007. Grace graduated from Mississippi College in Clinton, Miss., attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, completed the M.Div. at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, and a D.Min. in congregational development at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. She and her husband Taylor have two adult sons.
The Rev. Meredith Crigler
Diocese of Texas
Meredith currently serves as the chair of the Diocese of Texas World Mission Board, which encourages and supports global partnerships within the diocese including companion relationships with Southern Malawi, Costa Rica, and North Dakota. Ordained in the Diocese of Texas in 2010, she currently serves as rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Baytown since 2018, which is growing partnerships with the home churches of its parishioners from Caribbean Islands. Meredith graduated with majors in both Neuroscience and Religious Studies from Claremont McKenna College in Southern California, has an MDiv from Virginia Theological Seminary and is currently in a DMin in preaching program through Bexley Seabury. Born into a Navy family, she has traveled extensively across the United States and twenty-four countries/territories, including seasons as a student researcher in tropical ecology in Costa Rica, as a guest teacher in Antoa Village, outside of Kumasi, Ghana, and as a guest lecturer at Msalato Theological College in Dodoma, Tanzania. In addition to her focus on God’s mission globally and in the parish, she is a mentor and instructor with Backstory Preaching and a certified Daring Way and Dare to Lead Facilitator. Meredith is passionate about mission, preaching, teaching, sabbath, discernment and daring systems.
The Rev. Maurice Dyer
St. David’s Church, Radner, Penn.; Diocese of Pennsylvania
Maurice has served as assistant rector at St. David’s in Radnor, Penn., since his 2019 graduation from Virginia Theological Seminary. A California native who grew up in San Diego, he holds a B.A. in social and behavioral science from California State University at Monterey Bay. Maurice then served as a Young Adult Service Corps missionary in South Africa, where he lived in a Benedictine monastic community with monks and taught at the school that they oversaw. He then moved to Cape Town, where he worked at an institute assisting people in healing from trauma, particularly related to the South African apartheid years. He is co-chairs the Global Mission Commission of the Diocese of Pennsylvania.
Ms. Jenny Grant
Global Partnerships Department, Episcopal Church Center
Jenny serves as the Officer for Global Relations and Networking in the Office of Global Partnerships at the Episcopal Church Center. She develops mission-related resources, maps companion relationships across the Anglican Communion, shares the story of Episcopalians engaged in global mission, and works on other projects supported by departments across the Presiding Bishop’s staff. Prior to this position, Jenny served as a Young Adult Service Corp missionary in Kenya and a contractor on the Asset-Based Community Development initiative, “Called to Transformation.” She is passionate about the intersection between faith and justice around the world and cares deeply about how the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement is participating. Jenny completed undergraduate and graduate degrees in social work and non-profit management at the University of Georgia. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband Jared, newborn son Harrison, and their dog Bella.
Mr. William Kunkle Treasurer
Dominican Development Group; Diocese of Southwest Florida
During his decades as a mission leader Bill has organized, led and/or facilitated more than 500 short-term mission teams. Bill was the founder and president of Kunkle Contracting, Inc., a Florida-certified firm based in the Tampa area. Since 2012 he has served as executive director of the Dominican Development Group, which carries out a wide range of mission work, program support, development and self-sustainability initiatives with the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic. This include dozens of short-term mission trips each year from dioceses throughout the Episcopal Church and from other denominations. Bill served as an appointed missionary to the Diocese of the Dominican Republic through the DFMS for six years and has recently transitioned to the Episcopal Volunteers in Mission program (EVIM). Bill has served on the Companion Diocese Committee of the Diocese of Southwest Florida for 17 years. He is one of the founding board members of the Province IX Development Group (PDG), which assists dioceses in Province IX and beyond to develop sustainable programs and diocesan self-sufficiency. Since the recent passing of Dr. Bob Stevens, Bill has been PDG’s interim executive director while the board searches for new director. On the GEMN Board Bill has been especially active in logistics and organizational development consultation.
Ms. Patricia Martin Vice-President
Iglesia Episcopal Dominicana
Patricia es episcopal por tradición familiar, miembro de la Iglesia San Andrés de Santo Domingo, República Dominicana. Realizó estudios secundarios en el Colegio Episcopal San Andrés y educación universitaria en administración de empresas en la UNPHU de Santo Domingo. Laboró en empresas multinacionales en áreas administrativas y en la oficina diocesana de la Iglesia Episcopal Dominicana en la oficina de coordinación de equipos misioneros. Ha contribuido al crecimiento y al fortalecimiento de la misión de la Iglesia a nivel congregacional, diocesano y ultramar en comités de trabajos ecuménicos, de planificación y desarrollo de programas de jóvenes y adultos. Sirve en el ministerio laical licenciado y es cursillista. Su mayor pasión siempre ha sido contribuir con el desarrollo personal de los más vulnerables desde la solidaridad evangélica de Jesús y promover el discipulado misionero.
Patricia is an Episcopalian by family tradition, a member of the Iglesia San Andrés de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She completed secondary studies at the San Andrés Episcopal College and a university education in business administration at the UNPHU in Santo Domingo. She has worked in multinational companies in administrative areas and in the diocesan office of the Dominican Episcopal Church in the missionary teams coordination office. She has contributed to the growth and strengthening of the mission of the Church at the congregational, diocesan and overseas levels through ecumenical work, planning, and development of youth and adult programs. She serves in licensed lay ministry and is a cursillista. Her greatest passion has always been to contribute to the building up of the most vulnerable, in the evangelical solidarity of Jesus and the promotion of missionary discipleship.
The Rev. Canon Dr. Titus Presler, President
Diocese of Vermont; Bridges to Pakistan
President of GEMN, Titus is an Episcopal missiologist with extended mission experience in India, Zimbabwe and, most recently, as principal of Edwardes College in Peshawar, Pakistan. Educated at Harvard, General Seminary, and Boston University (Th.D.), he is former president of the Seminary of the Southwest and academic dean of General Seminary, and taught at Episcopal Divinity School, Harvard Divinity School and Pittsburgh Seminary. He specializes in mission theology and gospel-culture interactions. Former rector of St. Peter’s Church in Cambridge, Mass., he was a researcher for the Global Anglicanism Project, a consultant for the Anglican Indaba Project and visiting researcher at Boston University School of Theology. He is a member of the American Society of Missiology and the International Association for Mission Studies. He is member of the board of Bridges to Pakistan, vicar of St. Matthew’s Church, Enosburg Falls, Vermont, and coordinator of Green Mountain Witness, the Diocese of Vermont’s evangelism initiative. In addition to numerous articles and book chapters, he is author of Transfigured Night: Mission and Culture in Zimbabwe’s Vigil Movement; Horizons of Mission; Going Global with God: Reconciling Mission in a World of Difference; and co-author of the 2020 GEMN study book, Questing: The Way of Love in Global Mission. He blogs at TitusOnMission.wordpress.com. He and his wife Canon Jane Butterfield have four grown children and seven grandchildren.