According to a yooper college classmate, Dave Halt is a troll.  This is because, like the troll in “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”, he lived below the bridge (Mackinac) in southern Michigan.  Dave prefers to say that he grew up either in the Big Mitten or as an ex-patriot Buckeye in Wolverine land.

                Dave was raised on a hog farm in the small town of Napoleon, where he graduated from Napoleon High School in 1991.  From there he attended Spring Arbor University, majoring in Philosophy/Religion and History graduating in 1995.  Since he could not find any corporations hiring professional philosophers, he decided to further his education with an M.A. in Theological Studies from United Theological Seminary thinking that he would eventually pursue a doctorate and teach.  God decided differently.

                Raised a Free Methodist, Dave found The Episcopal Church through the ministry of an Army Chaplain while serving with the 2-107^th Cavalry in the Ohio Army National Guard.   He quickly developed a deep connection with the liturgies of the Book of Common Prayer and Anglican Theology and was confirmed in 2001 by The Rt. Rev. Kenneth L. Price.

                Following confirmation, and upon the advice of his parish priest, friends, and professors, he entered discernment for ordination and at the end was called to serve the church as a priest.  He attended Bexley Hall Seminary for his Master of Divinity and was ordained a priest in 2004 by Bishop Price.

                Dave arrived at St. Matthew’s in January of 2010 after serving churches in the Diocese of Southern Ohio and is looking forward to many years of ministry in Bloomington/Normal.

                Dave is married to Amy, a music teacher, and they have two children, Sarah and Liam.

                Among his leisure activities are reading, motorcycling, fly-fishing, and pursuing a small white ball across manicured grounds.

Fr. Bennett was born, XXL, 25 inches, 10 lbs., 6 oz, in Evanston, Illinois.  Most of his education began in the public schools of Marinette, Wisconsin. In fact, his first college year was at the University of Wisconsin at Marinette, following WWII.  He earned his B.A. at Carroll College, Waukesha, Wisconsin, began a teaching profession at a middle-school in Highwood, Illinois and after four years, went to Grayslake, Illinois to teach American History.  He attended night school at Northwestern University to earn an M.A. It was at Grayslake he found the Episcopal Church through the efforts of a couple of good friends.  When he first began college the desire to become a minister was set aside. Again, in Grayslake, the compulsion was still present and his family accepted the adventure to sell their house and move to Nashotah House, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree.

Ordained on December 18^th 1965 at the age of thirty-nine his first mission was at Harvard, Illinois, where after nine years, a new church building and rectory were constructed.

From Harvard, he was called to St. Matthew’s Diocese of Springfield and ministered here for over thirteen years. During that time he served as the Deputy to General Convention in 1976; started the Evangelism & Renewal Department; he served as Dean of the Eastern and Northeastern Deaneries.  He attended the Fifth Province E. & R. annual workshops, where with the Bishop of Eau Claire and he were the main presenters. For seven years he was the Chaplain to the Mclean Country Sheriff’s Department. Fr. Bennett has also been very active with the Cursillo events in Bloomington and the Diocese of Springfield.

He and his wife Alice were married on May 11^th, 1946 and were blessed with two daughters and three sons. Fr. Bennett served as a sonar man, helms man and postmaster in the U.S. Navy, in WWII and experience combat at Okinawa and escorted landings in the Philippines.  Until this year, his destroyer crew met for an annual reunion, but due to age and health, this was the last time.

From Bloomington he accepted the call to be Vicar of St. Alban’s, Olney, Illinois and after three years retired to Palmetto, Florida.  While there, he accepted the call for help at the Church of the Annunciation, Holmes Beach.  He ministered there for fourteen years during his “retirement”.  He returned to Bloomington to be near his family and was well accepted at St. Matthew’s as Priest Associate where he was once rector.

Laura McNeil is a native of Bloomington-Normal, graduating from Central Catholic High School, Parkland College (Banking and Finance) and Illinois State University (Speech Comunication).  She met her husband, Tim, while working at State Farm Insurance and together they have four children (a nearly empty nest!):  Annie (medical student at Des Moines University - graduate of Illinios College), Melinda (senior at Illinois Wesleyan University), Patrick (sophomore at Monmouth College) and Robert (junior at Central Catholic HS).
            They are members of St. Mary's Church, where Laura is a Eucharistic Minister and is a member of the Prayer Network and Bereavement Committee.  She was blessed to be an at-home mother for many years and has also worked in real estate sales, child care and is currently a Mary Kay Cosmetics Skin Care and Beauty Consultant.
            Laura's passion is coaching track and field, which she considers a prime opportunity to witness to young people.  She spent 8 seasons at Epiphany School and the past 3 seasons at Central Catholic where she is the Assistant Head Coach for the Girls' team and Assistant Sprints Coach for the Boys' team.
          

Terra Swisher grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota where she earned her Bachelor's degree in History from Black Hills State University.  After college she was program director at an ELCA church camp called Atlantic Mountain Ranch, the rustic setting created a unique set of challenges and opportunities but mostly it was a lot of fun.  In January she moved to Bloomington with her husband Brent who accepted a position at the Cargill plant.  She is very excited to join this church community and to help develop a fun and engaging program for our children and youth.