Our Clergy and Staff

The Reverend Sandy Webb has served Church of the Holy Communion since August 2013. Under his leadership, Holy Communion has developed and implemented new models for communicating its message, welcoming newcomers, forming young people, serving the wider community, and having challenging conversations in a spirit of truth and love. The parish also commissioned several new works of visual and musical art during Sandy’s tenure, and completed a capital campaign that raised nearly $11 million and provided for the complete overhaul of the parish’s 50,000-square foot facility.

As rector, Sandy is a permanent trustee of St. Mary’s Episcopal School, and he has made a priority of strengthening the relationship between the church and the school. Sandy is also a leader in the Diocese of West Tennessee, most recently chairing the Board of Directors of the Church Home Trust and the Transition Committee that welcomed the Diocese’s fourth bishop. In the community, Sandy serves on the advisory board for the Salvation Army of Memphis and the Mid-South, and as an occasional consultant to local non-profit organizations through Give Back Memphis.

Before coming to Holy Communion, Sandy was associate to the rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Roanoke, Virginia. He was the founding chaplain to the Roanoke City Fire-EMS Department and a community representative on the institutional review board at Carilion Clinic and Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

A “cradle Episcopalian” from Massachusetts, Sandy always wanted to serve the Episcopal Church as a career. Before seminary, he worked in the executive office of the General Convention at denominational headquarters in New York where he advised several policy-making committees, helped plan a reorganization of the Presiding Bishop’s staff, and coordinated worship services for as many as 8,000 people. In various capacities, his work with General Convention worship spanned a total of fifteen years.

Sandy earned his undergraduate degree from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He completed his seminary studies at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, and was ordained at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City in 2010. He has completed two courses at St. George’s College, Jerusalem, and is an alumnus of the New Memphis Institute’s program for senior executives.

Sandy is a regular contributor to the Episcopal Church Foundation’s Vital Practices blog. His scholarly work has been published in the Journal of Episcopal Church Canon Law; his letters and essays have appeared in Vital Practices, The Christian Century, The Living Church, The Commercial Appeal, and The Anglican Digest.

Sandy met and married his wife, Jessica, in Memphis.

The Reverend Jonathan Chesney has served Church of the Holy Communion since October 2018. He was called to CHC especially to serve and lead in the pastoral care ministries of the parish after completing a residency in Clinical Pastoral Education, serving as a hospital ER chaplain in Chicago. In addition to the canonical priestly roles, Jonathan has strong interests in and assists with liturgical planning and life, supporting the youth ministry, and taking part in some of the ecumenical and mission relationships CHC has with the larger community.

Taking part in the councils of the larger Church, Jonathan serves the Diocese of West Tennessee as Chaplain for the Happening Steering Committee and Chair of the Commission on Ministry. He is active in the Memphis Christian Pastors Network and holds a great love for Camp and Retreat ministries, such as those that take place at St. Columba Camp and Retreat Center.

Jonathan first served the Church as a lay youth minister in the Diocese of Alabama and in ministry and programing at Camp McDowell, where he then discerned a call to ordained ministry. After studying at Virginia Theological Seminary, Jonathan served his first cure at Holy Trinity, Auburn, working especially closely with the college ministry, an area which he holds dear from being an active participant while in his own undergraduate studies at Trinity College, in Hartford, CT.

Most importantly, Jonathan is married to Ali and they spend most of their time laughing and in awe of their young daughter, Georgi. Aside from sharing a love of the outdoors, traveling, cooking, and eating with Ali, Jonathan also loves reading fiction and poetry, games of all sorts, and trying to keep in touch with family and friends spread all over the country.

Randy is a life-long Memphian who attended college at Yale University and Rhodes College. He received his medical degree at University of Tennessee, and completed post-graduate training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He practiced gastroenterology in Memphis for more than 40 years.

He has been a member of Holy Communion since 1980. He served twice on the Vestry, once as senior warden. Following his discernment process for the Diaconate, Randy earned a master's degree in the Arts of Religion at Memphis Theological Seminary. He was ordained at Holy Communion in 2009.

Randy and his wife, Linda Kay, have four sons and six grandchildren. Before returning to Holy Communion, Randy served as deacon at St. Andrews Church, Collierville for a year.

His hobbies include golf, skiing, hunting and travel with Linda Kay, especially to visit their grandchildren. In addition to his liturgical duties, Randy is interested in pastoral care, and especially the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of those near the end of their lives and those experiencing the journey with them.

Teresa joined the CHC staff as director of finance and human resources in 2006. Her background includes auditing, general and cost accounting, financial systems implementations and project management.

Teresa holds a bachelor of science in accounting and a masters in business administration.

Mary Beth has several decades of administrative experience.

She was born and raised in Eaton, Ohio, and earned her bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Cincinnati. She worked in Washington, D.C. and after a few years, her sister and bother-in-law, Patty and Jerry Scruggs, convinced her to transfer to Memphis.

Mary Beth loves ballroom dancing, and through it, she met her husband, Jacob Shiloah. He is a retired professor from the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry.

 

Ellen Koziel, Ph.D., serves as assistant minister of music, directing our children’s music program, assisting with the Parish Choir and children’s formation, and playing the organ for St. Mary’s Episcopal School chapel services. She retired following a 32-year career as an Orff music specialist in the Memphis City Schools, teaching at Cordova Elementary and previously at Shady Grove Elementary.

Dr. Koziel was assistant choirmaster of St. Mary’s Cathedral and is formerly the music teacher of Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal School and assistant organist of Grace-St. Luke’s Church. She is a graduate of Radford University and holds the Master of Music with Orff-Schulwerk certification and the Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Memphis.

A member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and the American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA), Dr. Koziel is also on the faculty of Rhodes College, directing the Rhodes Women’s Chorus, and regularly teaches Orff-Schulwerk recertification classes in the summers at the University of Memphis and throughout the southeast region.

Michael organizes and coordinates the church athletic, fitness and wellness programs for children and adult. He also schedules and oversees the use of the athletic facilities (gym, baseball/soccer field, exercise room).

Michael graduated from Lambuth University - now, the University of Memphis Lambuth in Jackson, Tennessee - with a degree in Sports Management. He comes to Church of the Holy Communion from Hope Church where he worked as assistant director of recreation.

Cindy McMillion loves documenting parish life at Holy Communion through the lens of her camera. She also photographs weekly at St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, providing free portraits for housing-insecure men and women who attend the weekly breakfast and worship. Her determination to recognize and honor the divine image inside every human being has been the foundation for a number of community-based photography projects, including one honoring Holy Communion’s senior parishioners (Hall of Faith, displayed on the lower level of Blaisdell). As parish photographer, she provides images for weekly and monthly parish communications and manages Holy Communion's Facebook page. 

Cindy holds a master’s degree in instructional design and technology from the University of Memphis and served for many years as an elementary classroom teacher and an instructional technology specialist for Memphis-Shelby County Schools. 

She is married to Phil, retired professor of Old Testament, and the two have enjoyed several trips to Jerusalem, where Phil delves into history and theology while Cindy records moments of daily life in the Old City. She also enjoys bluegrass gospel music, writing, playing Scrabble, visiting art galleries, and reading (especially C.S. Lewis and poet Billy Collins). 

The broader body of Cindy’s photography work can be seen at cindymcmillionphotography.com 

 

Beth came to Church of the Holy Communion in December 2015 as assistant minister of communication. In her role, she assists the Minister of Communications by updating the weekly e-Communicator and bulletin; creating event flyers, posters, postcards; helping update the church website and other work in design and production.

Before coming to Holy Communion, Beth served as director of communication and outreach coordinator of St. Peter Catholic Church, where she produced the weekly bulletin, maintained the parish website, designed exterior signage and coordinated volunteers for its outreach ministries. As an extension of her work at St. Peter’s, Beth serves as a member of the parish social ministry subcommittee of the Board of Catholic Charities of West Tennessee.

A cradle Catholic from Memphis, Beth is an involved parishioner of St. Peter’s, serving as a member of its RCIA and Adult Faith Formation teams. She is also a board member of the Women’s Guild, serving as publicity and communications chair.

Beth is a graduate of the University of Memphis and serves on the university’s College of Communication and Fine Arts - Elizabeth and Harold Robinson Scholarship Committee. A fine arts enthusiast, Beth is an accomplished calligrapher and enjoys dabbling in watercolor painting. She enjoys spending time with her extended family and friends, especially while exploring the many excellent restaurants, museums and cultural events Memphis has to offer.

As Minister of Music and Liturgy, David Ouzts serves as director of music and organist for the parish and conducts the Parish Choir and Holy Communion Ringers. As the parish liturgist, he works closely with the clergy in planning all worship. He also serves as chapel organist for St. Mary's Episcopal School.

A native of South Carolina, Dr. Ouzts began his organ study as a high school student at Converse College and holds organ performance degrees from Furman University and the Yale School of Music. He holds diplomas in sacred music and Anglican studies from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. He studied organ with Walter Lindsay Smith and Robert S. Baker and organ improvisation with Gerre Hancock.

As a post-graduate student at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, he studied organ and church music with Marilyn Keiser, choral conducting with Jan Harrington and Michael Schwarzkopf, and served as a graduate assistant to organ department chair Larry Smith. In 2008 he earned the Doctor of Sacred Music degree from the Graduate Theological Foundation in South Bend, Indiana, and was named an Oxford Foundation Fellow to study systematic theology at the University of Oxford (U.K.).

He is involved in numerous professional organizations He is a past dean of the Huntington (WVa) and Memphis chapters of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) and presently serves as the AGO Tennessee District Convener. He has also served in a number of capacities as officer or board member for the Association of Anglican Musicians (AAM), Royal School of Church Music in America (RSCM), American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Handbell Musicians of America, and Choristers Guild.

In 2022 Dr. Ouzts celebrates his 20th year as parish musician of Church of the Holy Communion.

Kyle Taubken is a videographer, editor, and filmmaker from Memphis, TN. He has enjoyed working in video production for nearly a decade with clients across the Mid-South and beyond. Kyle deeply values the partnership between Church of the Holy Communion and his boutique video production company, Taubken Film & Video, and is "honored to be working regularly with such a special congregation!"

Carter was born and raised in Memphis. After graduating from White Station High School, she went to Middle Tennessee State University where she studied child development/family studies and social work.  She worked at Camp Gailor-Maxon for six years and served as the camp's assistant director in 2017. In summer 2018, Carter joined our staff as our Minister to youth. Carter loved every minute of working with the youth in our church and formed meaningful and unique relationships.  In the spring of 2022, Carter moved into the role of Head of Programs and Minister of Hospitality. When she is not greeting parishioners and newcomers, Carter is likely out to eat, cheering on the Grizzlies (or Vols or Titans), or at a concert.  Carter is an enneagram 2/ESFJ and loves to "be where the people are." Carter's main priority is helping you to feel welcome and connected at Church of the Holy Communion!