Micah has served as Priest-in-Charge at Grace since July of 2025. He is responsible for the spiritual and temporal affairs of Grace, which includes regularly preaching, teaching, and leading liturgy for the congregation as well as working with the lay leadership to conduct all other business of Grace. He also visits the sick and provides pastoral support to those who need it.
He was ordained a priest in 2006, and has served in congregations, nonprofit organizations, and seminaries throughout his ministry. In addition to his principal callings, he has served as a guest preacher, presider, teacher, and consultant for churches and other organizations across the county. For more than 15 years he has been a faculty member of the Episcopal Preaching Foundation’s Preaching Excellence Program. Before becoming a priest he worked for a number of companies in the board game and video game industries. He and his family live in Evanston.
Priest-in-Charge
The Vestry is the body within a congregation that, with the clergy, leads the parish. Grace’s Vestry meets monthly, on the third Tuesday at 7:00 pm, in person and online. In addition, the Vestry periodically schedules additional or special meetings as needed. All Vestry meetings are open to members of the Congregation. The schedule for Vestry meetings is at this link.
Jack Short
Parish Administrator
Jack hails from eastern Ohio and has been an Episcopalian since birth. Over the years, he has served in a variety of parish roles, including treasurer, organist, altar guild member, and in areas of marketing and stewardship.
Jack studied music at the University of Toledo, and after relocating to the Chicago area, he worked extensively as a music director and accompanist for numerous local theater companies. For the past 20 years, he has held leadership roles in several Chicagoland nonprofit organizations, most recently at Stage 773, where his focus included finance, grant writing, fundraising, human resources, and ticketing services.
Jack's favorite time is when he is hanging out with his feisty orange cat, Janet Vivian.
Wardens and Officers
Doug Luce, Senior Warden
Mark Woodworth, Junior Warden
Juliet Boyd, Chancellor
Michael O’Neal, Treasurer
Joyce Wade, Assistant Treasurer
Tim Hager, Clerk of the Vestry
Vestry Members
(terms expire at Annual Meeting 2027)
Lisa Achilles
Juliet Boyd
Tony Dobrowolski
(term expiring at Annual Meeting 2028)
Marianne Simpson
Cathy Tokarski
Joyce Wade
(term expiring at Annual Meeting 2029)
Eleanor Welch
Tammy Ravitts Bretscher
Jim Redden
Vestry & Officers
Jonathan Baumgarten
Deacon
Jon has been a member of Grace since 1982, and has served as a deacon at Grace since 2004. His main work at Grace is to encourage and enable the people of Grace to help those in need, whether inside the parish, or in our neighborhoods, our region, our nation, or the world.
Deacon Jon serves as a volunteer in the church. Outside the church, he retired in 2021 from being a Senior Software Developer at the Railroad Retirement Board in Chicago. (If you're having trouble falling asleep, ask him to explain the intricacies of unemployment benefits for railroad workers.) He worked there for over 30 years, and occupied cubicles within a 50 foot radius on the same floor after 1988.
Jon is married to Marion. They have two adult children, Martha and Peter, who both live in the Chicago area.