A “Cradle" Episcopalian, baptized and confirmed in the Episcopal Church, I have been a member of Christ the King, Normal since its formation as a mission in 1978. I have also served Christ the King as Senior / Rector's Warden (5 times, including currently), Junior / Parish Warden (5 times), and youth leader. I served as Bishop's Warden when Christ the King transitioned from Mission to Parish status. Other ministries include Lector, Eucharistic Minister, Chalice Bearer, Sunday school teacher and member of the church choir. I made my Cursillo weekend 30 years ago.

I retired from State Farm Insurance Companies in Bloomington after almost 20 years as a Software Solution Developer. Prior to that, I was the Electrical Maintenance Director at Clinton Power Station, working there for 16 years. I also served in the U.S. Navy as an electrician on submarines.

I currently serve as Diocesan Treasurer and have also served at the Diocesan level in several areas. I am completing my final year of a second term as a lay member of the Standing Committee. I served a previous term on the Standing Committee from 2008 - 2010 and served as a member of the Commission on Ministry from 2006 - 2009. I have been a Deanery Representative and Synod delegate (7 times) and have served 4 different terms on Diocesan Council. I served as co-chair of the Department of Mission from 2016 - 2019. I have also been a lay deputy to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church four times: Anaheim in 2009, Indianapolis in 2012, Austin in 2018, and Baltimore in 2022.

I have had various experiences working with financial databases and financial organizations. As a Software Developer with State Farm, I developed automated budget and expense reports using our accounting databases for different business areas. As the lead for our Business Intelligence team, I prepared budget recommendations and requests for various business functions under our responsibility. I also served as financial guardian for my late wife’s parents and administered their family trust until their deaths. Additionally, I served as treasurer of the Normal West High School Athletic Boosters from 1999 – 2002.

I have also been active in ministries outside of the Episcopal Church as well. I was a Children's Leader for 4 years for Bible Study Fellowship in Bloomington, a non-denominational bible study. Additionally, I was active in Kairos Prison Ministry, serving on 12 different inside teams at Menard Correctional Center, Western Illinois Correctional Center, and Pontiac Correctional Center. I served as Chairperson of the State Chapter Committee of the Illinois Kairos Prison Ministry from 2014 – 2016 and served as the Liaison for Kairos to Pontiac Correctional Center from 2016 – 2017.

Fr. Ohlemeier currently serves as Priest-in-Charge of St. George’s in Belleville and Dean of the Darrow Deanery.

Fr. Mark is a native Kansan and cradle Episcopalian, with a background in radio broadcasting and government relations prior to entering seminary. He received his undergraduate degree in Communication from Emporia State University, and his Master of Divinity from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Fr. Mark’s first call was as the Curate/Assistant Rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Springfield, Missouri, where he was ordained into the priesthood in January 2018 and served for four years before being called to St. George’s. He and his wife, Kristie, live in Fairview Heights, and their daughter, Hannah, currently attends Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.

I was born in Kerala, India into a family who are part of the Syrian Orthodox Church. My family emigrated when I was a child and I grew up in Canada, in a small town north of Toronto. I moved to the US in 1988 after I married my husband, Abe Kocheril, a cardiologist. We lived initially on the east cost while he was finishing his training and moved to Champaign in 1995. We’ve been members at Emmanuel, Champaign for 26 years.

I worked as a respiratory therapist, practicing and teaching, until we were ready to start our family. I stayed home to raise our 2 boys, once they were born, but began to volunteer as a way to keep my brain active. I began in the school system, but quickly added community and Museum Boards, where I served in many roles. My church has also been a big part of my life in Champaign. I have served in many positions at Emmanuel and am currently the Senior Warden and member of the Search Committee while we look for our next permanent Rector. 

I am happy to serve my church and diocese in any capacity to which I am called.

Cindy has been nominated to Standing Committee, and is currently serving a one-year unexpired term. She is active in a number of ministries at St. George's, including: Adult Choir, Altar Guild, Lector and Eucharistic Minister Coordinator, Lector and Eucharistic Minister, Liturgical Commission, and as member of the Vestry and Vestry Liaison to the Liturgical Commission. At the diocesan level, she has also served five terms on Diocesan Council as Darrow Deanery Representative and Synod member at large, Lay Deputy to General Convention, Synod Delegate, and Deanery Representative. 

She was received into the Episcopal Church in 1988 and has attended St. George’s since 1998. 

Cindy successfully completed Education for Ministry (EfM) in 1995, and participated in Cursillo through the Roman Catholic Church in 1985. In 2017, she served as Rector for Cursillo XXXV in the Episcopal Diocese of Springfield and remains involved with the Cursillo movement in the diocese. 

Following graduation from Mount Mary College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Cindy served in the United States Marine Corps for four years as a Communications Officer. While in service, she met and married her husband, a Marine aviator. Following her end of active duty, she settled with her husband in the Collinsville area and started a family. During this time she also worked for five years as a high school German teacher, and four years as a high school Guidance Counselor. Subsequently, to meet the evolving needs of her family, she elected to focus her full attention on actively rearing her two children and maintaining a stable household. 

Cindy also actively supported her children’s athletic efforts, served as a Stroke Judge in both YMCA and USA Swimming venues. While her children were young, she served as a Sunday School teacher for the youth and as a camp counselor for two years at the Diocese of Springfield Episcopal Church Camp. Her varied hobbies include: Weight Training, Spinning, Swimming, Knitting, Sewing, and Reading.

Fr. Evans has served as the Canon to the Ordinary since January 2020. Prior to this appointment he was Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Lincoln, Illinois beginning December 2011. He has been a member of Diocesan Council, the Trustees, the Standing Committee, the Department of Finance and is the Cursillo Team Spiritual Director. Mark has also been a Deputy to General Convention three times and was a faculty member of CREDO, a clergy wellness program of the Church Pension Group, from 2014 to 2017.

Fr. Evans received an MDiv from Nashotah House Theological Seminary in May 2009 was ordained to the priesthood by the Rt. Rev. Russell Jacobus (Fond du Lac) in June of that year. He served as the Director of Church Relations for Nashotah House for 18 months between ordination and his call to Trinity.

Prior to seminary, Fr. Evans was an investment professional for 25 years including 20 years at Sentry Insurance where he managed equity portions of the company pension plan, the general account of the insurance company and funds sold to policy holders. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation (CFA), has a Masters in Business Administration from Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa and a BA in Management from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa.

Fr. Evans is married to Sandy Moore and they have three adult daughters and two grandchildren.

Fr. Conner is the Rector of St. Andrew’s Church in Edwardsville.. Father is a native of the Delaware Valley and a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University (‘16) from which he holds a B.A. in English Literature. After being approved for postulancy by Bishop Gutierrez of Pennsylvania, He matriculated at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in 2018 and graduated from the same in 2021 with a M.Div. Following diaconal ordination, Father began his ministry as deacon and then priest in charge of the Church of the Incarnation in Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Grace Episcopal Church in Hulmeville, Pennsylvania. He received the call to serve St. Andrew’s in the Spring of 2023 and arrived in August of that year. The Rt. Rev’d Brian Burgess installed him as rector on January 30th, 2024. Father John is married to Chloe. 

Ellen was born in Martinsburg, W Va in 1946. A lifelong Episcopalian, she was baptized and confirmed at Trinity Episcopal Church, in Martinsburg, W Va.

After graduating from the College of William and Mary, she lived, worked and worshipped in eight states. She taught school, and spent 20 years in Operations and Fiscal Departments for several convenience store chains.

In 1994 Ellen arrived in Lincoln, IL. where she found a welcoming community and church home, Trinity Episcopal.

Since 1994 Ellen has served Trinity, Lincoln, IL as Vestry member (several terms), Senior Warden, current Treasurer, Synod Delegate, Lector, Chalice Bearer and Sunday School teacher. She made her Cursillo in the Diocese of Springfield in 2018 and was a team member for Cursillo in 2019,2022and 2023. She is serving the Diocese of Springfield on the Diocesan Council as the Chairman of the Audit Committee and is a member of the Cursillo Secretariat. 

Serving the community of Logan County is very important to Ellen. As president of the Humane Society of Logan County and president of the Oasis Senior Center, she spearheaded the building and operation of new functional facilities for both groups.

She is actively involved in Crime Stoppers, Rotary , the board of St Clara’s Manor Nursing Home and volunteers at Logan Correctional Center.

In 2013 Ellen was named the Lincoln Courier Citizen of the Year.

Ellen in 2016 she retired from Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois where she was the Human Resource Director. She is an avid animal advocate and shares her home with her sixth rescue cat. 

Fr. Ashmore was born in Pike County, Illinois on February 2, 1950. He graduated from high school in Rockville, Maryland, attended the College of William & Mary, and graduated from the University of Maryland in 1972. He earned an M. Div from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas in 1976, and did further theological study at Princeton Seminary and the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. He completed an STM degree at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in 2022.

Ordained to the Diaconate in 1978 and the Priesthood in 1979, Fr. Ashmore served in the Diocese of West Texas from 1978 to 1998 as a curate in Brownsville, Texas and an assistant priest and vicar in San Antonio, Texas. He also served for three years as Chaplain and Instructor of Religion at St. Mary’s Hall, a private girls’ high school in San Antonio. He came to the Diocese of Springfield in 1998, where he became Rector of Trinity Church, Jacksonville until his retirement in 2016. He has served the Diocese in many positions, including Standing Committee, Diocesan Council, Commission on Ministry, and as a three-time Deputy from Springfield to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.

Fr. Ashmore has been married to the former Kathryn Louella Paullin (K-Lou) of Los Angeles, California for fifty years. They have two adult children, Jessica Yamada (Bloomington) and Kevin Ashmore (Springfield), and three grandchildren. Fr. Ashmore and K-Lou continue to live in Jacksonville and attend Trinity Church, and Fr. Ashmore also serves as a supply priest to other churches and missions in the Diocese.

The daughter of two Free Methodist pastors, Mother Marisa grew up in northern Indiana along with her older brother and twin sister. In college, she studied English literature and theatre and obtained her MDiv from Trinity School for Ministry in 2020. Mother Marisa joined The Episcopal Church while in seminary and became an aspirant with the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas in 2019. Then, just as she was about to move to Texas, a seminary professor put her in touch with Mother Beth Maynard from Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal Church in Champaign, who was looking to hire a curate. Mother Beth called Marisa to Emmanuel in June 2020, and she’s been there ever since. 

Mother Marisa was ordained deacon in October 2021 by the Rt. Rev. Dr. George Sumner, diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas, and priest in April 2022 by the Rt. Rev. Paul Lambert, bishop suffragan of Dallas. Mother Marisa became resident in the Diocese of Springfield after her curacy ended in May 2023, at which point Emmanuel’s interim rector, Father Fred Robinson, invited her to stay at Emmanuel as priest associate for children’s, youth, and young adult ministry. 

Mother Marisa has two children, Pepper (4) and Simeon (almost 2). In her free time, Mother Marisa enjoys singing and playing the piano, reading classic literature, cooking and baking, playing with her kids, and learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

John-Paul is the Artistic Director of Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, LLC of Champaign, Illinois. He received his Master of Music degree in Organ and Church Music from Northwestern University in 1980, and his Master Organbuilder Certificate from the American Institute of Organbuilders in 1985.  

The Buzard Organ Company is housed in a converted turn-of-the-Century hotel in downtown Champaign and in a storefront and warehouse a block away, and employs +/- 20 persons, most of whom are Members of the American Institute of Organbuilders. John-Paul is also a member of the American Guild of Organists, The Organ Historical Society, the International Society of Organbuilders, and his firm is a member of The Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America.  

John-Paul is also a Member of the Worshipful Company of Musicians of the City of London, and a “Freeman of the City of London,” having been sponsored by organbuilder Henry Willis, 4 as the only non-English resident ever allowed into this ancient musicians’ craft guild. (This distinction entitles him to be able to legally drive a herd of sheep across London Bridge while whistling a tune!) He is also the first and only recipient of the Henry Willis Organ Pipe Voicing Medal, awarded by the Worshipful Company of Musicians following demonstration of his advanced abilities according to an established examination protocol.

John-Paul is married to Linda, his wife of 44 years. Linda is the Organist & Choirmaster at the Episcopal Chapel of St. John the Divine in Champaign. They have two children: Stephen, 35, Organist & Choirmaster at St. James Episcopal Cathedral, Chicago, and Concert Organist under the McFarlane Artists Management firm; and Katie, 32, who has earned a Masters degree in Vocal Performance from the Royal College of Music in London and is now living in Chicago where she freelances in editing, writing, and concert reviewing projects. She also works as a writer and announcer for WILL-FM Radio, the NPR station at the University of Illinois in Urbana.