Ministers and staff at Mount Vernon

The Rev. Barry S. Foster
became pastor of Mount Vernon in July 2008. He was previously pastor at Raleigh Court UMC in Roanoke and from 1995 to 2004 was chaplain at Shenandoah University. He has served churches in Ashland, Richmond, and Winchester, and has led Voices of Youth teams on mission trips all over the world. His wife, Susan, is a concert organist and harpsichordist and is currently the organist for Home Moravian Church in Winston-Salem. They have two sons; one lives in Columbia, S.C., and the other in Harrisonburg.

 

Beth Bauman,
director of youth ministries, has a degree in Christian education from Emory and Henry College and has worked with youth groups for many years. She is married to Dr. Briggs Bauman, and they have two children: a daughter who is in graduate school in Geneva, Switzerland, and a son who is a freshman at Emory and Henry College.

 
Tim Navis
joined the staff in August 2009 as director of music ministries. He has a B.A. in music and theology and is completing a masters of church music at the University of Wisconsin, Concordia. In addition to organ, he plays piano, percussion, trumpet, guitar, and marimba. He and his wife, Leslie, have two children: two-year-old Evan and four-month-old Jaden.

Lin Benefield
became the administrative secretary at Mount Vernon in July 2008. She's a graduate of the Kent State School of Journalism and for many years edited books for religious publishing houses. She and her husband, Gary, have one son and two grandchildren. 

 

Shirley Gammon,
Mount Vernon's financial secretary, joined the staff in 2005. She and her husband, Jack, have one son, one daughter, two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

 

Tony Miller
has been the sexton at Mount Vernon since 2004. He has a six-year-old daughter, Keasia.

 

Bonnie Williams
has been director of Mount Vernon's preschool, Children's House, for 13 years. She is a lifelong resident of Danville, with a bachelor of science degree in education from Averett University. Bonnie was previously with Danville Public Schools. She and her husband, Don, have two daughters, a granddaughter, and twin grandsons.