Staff

Senior Pastor
barrett@mvpchurch.org

Called as the 7th Senior Pastor of Mount Vernon in August, 2019, Barrett has walked alongside the church through the Covid-19 pandemic and helped to steer the church through a season of change and revitalization. Now entering his sixth year, Barrett continues to enjoy the varied and unique ministry opportunities at MVPC. Some of his favorites include preaching on Sunday, organizing interfaith clergy gatherings on Thursdays, planning worship with the staff on Tuesdays, and meeting with that long time member or first time visitor over coffee any morning. He also relishes the opportunity to imagine alongside MVPC’s various mission partners to serve neighbors both near and far.

Barrett is married to Braegan, a librarian at Georgia State University, and they have a daughter, Evelyn. He is a 2013 graduate of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and also holds degrees from Hardin-Simmons University and The University of Alabama. In his freetime, he enjoys rooting for the Alabama Crimson Tide and continuing in his quest to visit all 429 National Park Units (he has currently been to 113).

Associate Pastor of Faith Formation
isaac@mvpchurch.org

Isaac grew up in Athens, Georgia and is a life-long Presbyterian whose home-church is First Presbyterian Church of Athens. He began his call at Mount Vernon in August 2020 with the desire to share holy space with others. Isaac is the staff resource for the Children, Youth, Young Adult, and Senior Adult ministry teams, which typically looks like working with congregants to plan on and off campus programming. Isaac spends the middle portion of a workday in the office and uses the early mornings and later afternoons for improving his Spanish, practicing guitar, journaling, reading, and praying. Isaac takes Friday as a Sabbath day.

Isaac graduated seminary from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in 2019 and holds an undergraduate degree from Centre College. Isaac is married to Christina, an ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church. They enjoy rock climbing and camping in their free time.

Church Finance and Operations
steve@mvpchurch.org

Steve was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, attended Michigan State University, and graduated with a B.A. in Advertising. Steve has worked in 6 different industries during his career in companies ranging from Fortune 500 to startups in fields spanning Business Development to Operations. His wife, Shelly, and two sons, Ethan and Aidan, have been members of MVPC since 2000. Both boys attend Mount Vernon Presbyterian School. He served on the Executive Committee for the Board of Trustees at MVPS for 8 years and has been Clerk of Session for MVPC for the last 4 years. He is an avid Spartan and college sports fan, loves traveling with his family, and doing outdoor activities. His favorite things are playing tennis, giving back to the community, and running his vizslas.

Financial Secretary

yvonne@mvpchurch.org

Yvonne White was born in Hollandale, MS. She graduated from Mississippi Delta College and later moved to Atlanta, GA for better career opportunities. Yvonne and her husband, Walter, were high school sweethearts and have 2 sons: DeVonta’ and Dalvin. She has worked with children for over 20 years serving as a Team Mom for her boys school and summer traveling sports teams. In her leisure time she enjoys watching her boys play basketball, attending church, traveling and spending time with friends and family.

Administrative Assistant
debbie@mvpchurch.org

Debbie was born in St. Louis, MO and moved several times from the Midwest to New England growing up. Eventually she ended up in Ohio where she graduated from Bowling Green State University. She moved to Atlanta in 1983 and has two grown children; one of whom is a pastor in the United Methodist Church. Prior to MVPC, Debbie worked for many years in the corporate world and served as office administrator in several churches. She has been at MVPC for five years and enjoys getting to know the members and being involved in the process of creating many of the weekly/monthly publications. Debbie loves the outdoors, dog sitting for her granddogs, and her favorite hobby is baking/cooking- which the rest of the staff benefits from greatly!

Director of Spiritual Care
shari@mvpchurch.org

Shari was born and raised in Michigan and moved to the Atlanta area after graduating from college. She retired from a career in Computer Software Engineering in 2019 and, having discerned a call to ministry, started in the Masters of Divinity program at Columbia Theological Seminary in 2020. She enjoys being active in church communities and has experience teaching Bible study, preaching, retreat leadership, small group leadership, and children’s ministry. Shari is also a Spiritual Director, certified in 2020 through the Center for Sustainable Faith. She lives in Alpharetta with her husband Richard and their fur babies Daisy and Sandy. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, reading, and playing guitar.

Director of Music

A life-long church musician, both as a singer and accompanist, Jill has led choirs of all ages. Her deep love for sacred music is reflected in her many compositions for choir, duets, ensembles, and solo instruments. She is a music educator with over 30 years of classroom and private studio experience, and currently teaches piano and voice in her Sandy Springs home studio.

Her favorite things to do include practicing the fantastic Mount Vernon organ, planning the music part of worship on Tuesdays with Barrett, Isaac, Shari, and Debbie, and recruiting people to do special things to enhance the music ministry.

Jill has been married to Bill Hudson for 35 years, and they have two grown sons. She is a graduate of Georgia State University, with additional certificates from The Royal Conservatory of Music and The American Guild of Organists.