Our Ministry Team
The ministries of the Utah Region of the Episcopal Church on Navajoland are expressions of our participation in the dream of God in our midst. They take different shapes and forms as the needs of our communities change, and they grow out of the initiation of the Spirit. In the end, our ministries do not belong the clergy or the church. They belong to the people of God in our communities and the Spirit of God in our midst. Our communities are not gathered around a minister; they are ministering communities that include our clergy.
Utah Region Ministry Council
Because our ministries begin with ministering communities, our ministry teams are the backbone
of ministry in the Utah Region. Each community, St. Christopher’s Mission, St. John the Baptizer, and St. Mary in the Moonlight has a ministry team that develops and facilitates their ministry. The Utah Region Ministry Council is made up of representatives from each community’s ministry team and coordinates and facilitates our ministries.
Rev. Jack Chase
Vicar of St. Christopher’s Mission and
Interim Vicar of Utah Region
Rev. Jack Chase is a retired priest from the Diocese of Texas with a long-term relationship with the Episcopal Church on Navajoland. In 2020, he joined the Utah Region as the Priest-in-Charge of St. Mary of the Moonlight and later became the interim Vicar of St. Christopher’s Mission. He currently serves as a supply priest in the Utah Region as he serves as a supply priest with the San Juan Region and the sustainability coordinator for ECN.
Rev. Paula Henson
Priest-in-Charge of St. John the Baptizer
On June 13, 2021, Rev. Paul Henson was ordained a priest at the first in-person worship service on Navajoland after 18 months of closure during the COVID closure. Paula attended the Deacons Formation Academy in Phoenix, AZ in 2010 for a little over a year and was ordained as a Deacon in 2011. She did her Clinical Pastoral Education at the San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, NM. In 2021, she graduated from the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry and was ordained a priest in the Church of God and for the Episcopal Church on Navajoland.
Paula is the Priest-in-Charge of the community of St. John the Baptizer and has served churches in all three regions of the Episcopal Church in Navajoland during her diaconal ministry. She now joins the ministry team in the Utah Region to offer her gifts as part of God’s work amongst our communities. Paula is the mother of two daughters and a proud grandmother to three grandchildren. She and her husband Hank live at St. Christopher’s Mission with their two dogs, Mike and Ike. Paula joins Revs. Joe Hubbard, Jack Chase, and Carolyn Ballinger (and countless others) as part of the ministry team serving St. John the Baptizer in Montezuma Creek, St. Mary’s in the Moonlight in Oljato, and St. Christopher’s Mission in Bluff.
Rev. Carolyn Ballinger
Supply Priest
Rev. Carolyn Ballinger is a retired priest from the Diocese of Western Kansas. Her relationship with Navajoland began with her work as a mentor to Rev. Paula Henson through the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry. She is a high school teacher at Monument Valley High School and serves as a supply priest in the Utah Region.