WHO WE ARE

We are the Happening National Committee, a board of adults, youth, and clergy who love the Happening movement and are committed to providing leaders of the movement from all over the world with the opportunities to participate in further developing their programs.

Executive Committee

Randy Winton is from Tallahassee, Florida and serves as the Executive Director for the HNC. He has been a Youth Minister for the past 23 years and works with Happening and youth in the Diocese of Florida. Randy's passion is leading youth in the church and empowering them to be leaders themselves. He's married to Chattie and has 3 kids - Sarah Beth, Eason and Anna Grace.

Jude Holcomb, the VP/Conference Coordinator for the HNC, attended Happening #26 in the Diocese of Florida in 1986. Since that time she has served on over 60 teams as Geritol Group Leader, Mom, Assistant Advisor, or Advisor, as well as in the position of Lay Director three different terms over the years. Jude began on the Happening National Committee at the Illinois Conference in 2004. She has served as Adult Member, Secretary, and VP/Conference Coordinator (currently). When not in “Happening Mode”, Jude is a college mathematics professor in Jacksonville.  She has two grown daughters and five wonderful grandsons ranging in age from 6 weeks to 9 years.  Fernandina Beach, FL and St Peter's Episcopal Church have been home for 31 years. 

Jody Grant is the VP/Secretary of the Happening National Committee. He is from the Diocese of Georgia, where he is a high school science teacher and the Diocesan Coordinator of the Happening program. Jody has stayed involved with Happening since he was a Happener as a sophomore in high school in 1992. He first attended NHLC in 1994.

Krisan Lamberti serves as the VP/Treasurer on the Happening National Committee. She first came to Happening by listening to the voice calling her, the then-Spiritual Director of Happening in the Diocese of Southeast Florida. She served for a bit but had other interests and drifted away. Then came that voice calling again, but this time it was the need of high school youth. Honoring the talents of youth, being their mentor and guide to new possibilities, is a privilege; it is also energizing. This led to her calling to serve on the National Happening Committee as she continues to serve the youth in her diocese with Happening.

Adults

Lindsey Hill represents Lutheran Happening of the South as an adult lay member on the Happening National Committee. She has been involved with Happening since she was a sophomore in high school and moved into the role of Director about 13 years ago. She has loved every stage from being a participant to being a staff member to being Director. By day, she is a family nurse practitioner in Nashville, Tennessee… and yes, she loves country music!

Caitlin Kenney is from Oklahoma City, where she's lived her whole life. She grew up going to St. John's Episcopal Church in OKC and just started attending St. Mary's in Edmond. She is a college student at the University of Central Oklahoma, where she is studying public health and gender studies. She has been blessed to be active in both Happening and New Beginnings with the Diocese of Oklahoma, as well as the diocesan summer camp, St Crispin's.

A cradle Episcopalian, Rick Peete has been involved in Youth Ministry since the 70s when he was an active leader in his parish in Los Angeles. Rick remained involved in various churches and denominations, doing youth groups and leadership development. He had his Happening in June 2000 as an adult participant, at the encouragement of a member in his parish youth group. The experience was profound. Since then, he became much more involved in youth ministry programs at the diocesan level, leading to his election to the Happening Steering Committee in the Diocese of Chicago. Rick has staffed over 25 Happening weekends, and just joined the National Happening Committee in 2014.

Matthew Bowers is a lifelong Episcopalian and very excited to be serving God on the national steering committee for Happening. He is also a proud graduate of Florida State University, where he earned his degree in Religious Studies. Matt is currently serving as the Camp Weed Program Manager, running summer camp for the Diocese of Florida. When he is not working, Matt is usually enjoying Chinese food or watching movies.

Youth

Claire Duncan is a youth representative on the Happening National Committee. She is from Augusta, Georgia and currently serves and attends youth retreats in the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia.

Melissa Smith is from Savannah, GA. She is a freshman Business Administration major at the Georgia Institute of Technology and likes being involved with campus clubs and her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi. She was Rector of Georgia Happening 95 in May 2015. Melissa likes hiking, being active, and spending a beautiful day at the beach.

Susannah Wright is a native of San Antonio, TX and current sophomore at Rice University, where she studies Classical Studies. She grew up at Christ Episcopal Church, where several generations of her family have attended, and has been very active in youth programs through the Diocese of West Texas, including Camp Capers and (of course) Happening. Susannah first became involved in Happening just before her sophomore year of high school, when she attended Happening #119. From that point on, she fell in love with the movement, and particularly its unique ability to remind youth just how unbelievably valued, loved, and special they are. In high school, she served on staff three times before being selected to serve as the rector of Happening #126 in November 2013. She has continued to be active in Happening throughout college and hopes to remain involved in the movement throughout her whole life.

Roger Villatoro is from Miami, Florida in the Diocese of Southeast Florida and is currently a freshman at Sewanee: The University of the South. Roger enjoys watching and playing sports, and loves the Episcopal Church. Roger attended Happening #29 in the Diocese of Southeast Florida as a freshman and following three straight Happenings of being on team, was selected to be the Rector for Happening #33 in the fall of 2014. He attended NHLC in 2012 and 2014, and was selected to be on the Happening National Committee 2014-2016. He has also served as part of the Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) 2014 Mission Planning Team.

Davis Johnson is from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He grew up in the Presbyterian Church until 8th grade when his family switched to Christ Episcopal Church. After getting involved in the youth group there, he proceeded to become involved at Camp Weed summer camp and from there, Happening. He attended the Diocese of Florida’s Happening #126 as a candidate and went on to become the rector of Happening #130. In between these times, Davis was selected to be a member of the Happening National Committee which he was served on since 2014.

Rachel Robinson is from Savannah and currently in school at the College of Charleston for early childhood education. She got involved in youth events early on, so she knew all about the exciting surprise that was Happening; what she didn't know was how happening would change her life and where it would lead her. She believes that Happening is a perfect representation of the fact that God's unconditional love that will stay with her, and us, forever.

Clergy

Rev. Wiley Ammons is a Jacksonville, FL native, a graduate of both the University of Florida College of Engineering and Virginia Theological Seminary, and a product of an Episcopal Youth Group. He currently serves as the Deputy for Outreach for the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Jacksonville, having spent 3 years as the Canon for Youth Ministry for the Diocese of Florida and 4 summers as the Summer Camp Director for Camp Weed. When not at church, Fr. Wiley is a private pilot, avid board gamer, and soon to be father of one.

Rev. Michael Hurst became Vicar of Church of the Savior in September 2014. Before moving to Allen, he served as Rector at Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Paris, Texas, and before that as Associate Rector at Church of the Advent in Nashville, Tennessee. Fr. Michael has been involved in youth ministries much of his adult life, first as a volunteer then as a full-time staff Youth Minister at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in the Nashville area. He currently serves on the Diocese of Dallas Youth Commission, a role in which he teaches youth how to be spiritual leaders in their home parishes. He earned a BA from Middle Tennessee State University with concentrations in Business Law and English, as well as a Master's of Divinity from Sewanee: the University of the South. He and his wife, Gilda, have been married 35 years and have three adult sons, Logan, Chase, and Rob. They also have three beautiful daughters-in-law and five grandchildren.