"Banner year" testimony: Tim Hart

“You can try other churches, but you’ll always come back to St. John’s.”
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It was Brian Marion who brought me to St. John’s. I moved to Oakland in 2002 as a lapsed Catholic who only went to Corpus Christi when my parents were in town. Then in 2009, I began dating a woman in Southern California who was a cradle Episcopalian at St. Cross in Hermosa Beach. I began attending services there with her. In December, she was coming to visit me in Oakland for the first time and asked me what Episcopal church we should attend. I of course had no clue, so she asked Brian, who she knew had recently moved from Oakland. Brian strongly recommended St. John’s. “You can try other churches,” he said, “but you’ll always come back to St. John’s.” Just like he did.

At my first St. John’s service, Molly Darling preached about how “Luke loves the ladies.” Ken Fuller introduced himself and asked me if I wanted to join the Vestry. After first greeting me saying that I looked familiar, Helen Nicholas remembered that she was my realtor in 2002. 

I stayed in the shadows for my first couple of years, though Brian was always pushing me to get more involved. He eventually convinced me to become an usher, join the Men’s Group, and eventually the Vestry. I am grateful that he did, since it allowed me to ease into this community and develop relationships that have kept me at St. John’s long after Brian passed and my relationship with the So Cal girlfriend ended.

​My banner would quote Brian: “You can try other churches, but you’ll always come back to St. John’s.”