The Rev. Rob Keim, Rector
Rob was called to be our Rector, or lead-Priest, in 2015. Previously he had been the Interim Rector of St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church in Sunnyvale, California. He has also served as Associate Priest at Calvary Episcopal Church in Santa Cruz and at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Rob’s ministry mission is to “help make disciples of Christ in all people.” We all walk the spiritual journey in which we respond to God’s grace by loving God back, loving others, loving ourselves, and loving the rest of non-human Creation. In this way, we serve as the hands and feet and voice of Jesus in the world.
Rob currently serves as the President of our diocesan Standing Committee and is Chair of our diocesan “Truth-telling Taskforce.” He is also serving again as a Deputy to General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2024. In addition, Rob has served as Chair of our diocesan Liturgy Committee, Member of the diocesan Finance Committee, and Co-lead of the Taskforce to Re-imagine Deaneries.
Before being ordained, Rob worked in two high-level finance positions. From 1997 to 2003, he worked as Finance Director, PC Sales, for Hewlett Packard, where he led the finance side of a $5 billion PC sales business, and managed a team of 30 people. He also worked for five years as Controller, Finance Talent, for Cisco Systems, where he led efforts to improve the career planning and development for the 2,600 people in Cisco Finance including university recruiting, rotation programs, mentoring circles, leadership development, and manager development.
Rob graduated from Northwestern University in 1986 with a B.A. in Economics and Computer Studies. He earned an MBA in 1991 from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He received a Master of Divinity degree in 2007 from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Certificate in Anglican Studies in 2008 from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. He was ordained to the diaconate in June 2009 and to the priesthood in December 2009, both in the Diocese of California.
Rob is married to Jeff Diehl, who is the Principal and CFO at Albion Environmental, Inc. (an environmental consulting firm with offices in Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo). Jeff has served as Secretary to Diocesan Convention since 2020 and has served as a Deputy to General Convention since 2012. In addition, he has served as a diocesan consultant for rector search committees. In 2007, Jeff co-chaired the bishop search committee that resulted in the election of Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves and as the Chaplain for our Bishop search in 2019. Rob and Jeff are young grandfathers with a grandson named Carter. He and his parents are in Kirkland, Washington.
Outside of Church, Rob is a certified Master Gardener, sings with the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale, and performs with Central Coast Gilbert and Sullivan. In 2018 Rob had a lead role as Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore.
The Rev. Susan Arnold, Deacon
Deacon Susan thinks of herself as a native of San Luis Obispo County though she was born in Riverside, California, and spent her first 12 years of life there. She has lived in all parts of San Luis Obispo County starting with 17 years in Grover Beach where she completed 7th-8th grades at Judkins Middle School and 9th-12th grades at Arroyo Grande High School. The next 18+ years were spent living in the North County where her daughter and son were born. Shortly after her daughter’s graduation from high school, she moved to Morro Bay where she lives with her husband, Jim Arnold.
The Rev. Arnold worked as a nursing assistant in a long-term care facility until a position at The Tribune Newspaper (then called the Telegram-Tribune) as a phone clerk took her on a journey lasting nearly 28 years in the Circulation Department. There she became adept at multi-tasking while learning everything office; from old-time IBM Selectric typewriting and ten-key adding machines to modern computer data entry and processing; from a two-line push button phone system with no messaging to modern computerized phone services. Learning to operate these tools efficiently was imperative as the focus in the Circulation Department is the customer/subscriber. Because of her ability to manage customers and systems, Rev. Arnold became the go-to person and was the key trainer of the out-of-country representatives when the company outsourced.
The Rev. Arnold was baptized in a Methodist church but never settled down to any particular denomination until her then-boyfriend, born into the Episcopal Church, asked her to go to church with him. She came to realize that this was the church home for which she had been yearning. Though she enjoyed her work, the call to ordained ministry was too strong to ignore so she retired from The Tribune in 2012. After 3 years of study, Rev. Arnold graduated from the School for Deacons in Berkeley and was ordained a Vocational Deacon on June 6, 2015, at Trinity Cathedral, San Jose.
The Rev. Canon Doug Edwards, Retired Priest
Since early childhood, I knew that I would be an Episcopal priest, a US Senator, or a Supreme Court justice. At age 20 I looked under the hood of politics and scratched the goal of being a Senator.
I was a very successful collegiate debater and public speaker, winning national awards. Law school and the path to the Supreme Court were there… I love constitutional law to this day, and would gladly accept an appointment to the Supreme Court (watch out, Citizen’s United!), but the phone call has yet to come.
The call which did come loud, clear, and repeatedly was to be ordained an Episcopal priest, which happened in 1984. I suppose the rest of my life has been a feeble attempt to be faithful to this calling filled with purpose. Success for a priest has a very different matrix than in business, though my future business success is as much attributable to the values ingrained in parish ministry as anything else.
Janis Johnson, Music Director
Janis Johnson has served as our Organist and Choir Director since December 2010. She holds both the Service Playing Certificate and Colleague Certificate from the American Guild of Organists. Previous to coming to St. Barnabas she served for many years as Organist/Choir Director at St. Peter’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Morro Bay; Organist at St. John’s Lutheran in Arroyo Grande; Organist at Mt. Carmel Lutheran in San Luis Obispo. She is the accompanist for Canzona, a women’s chamber choir ensemble based in San Luis Obispo. Over the years she has served as an accompanist for Pacific Repertory Opera, Cal Poly choirs, Cuesta choirs, and many instrumentalists. She also maintains a private piano studio of about 30 students in Morro Bay.
Adam Loveridge, Parish Administrator
Adam has replaced Carole Bartolini as the Parish Administrator at Saint Barnabas after Carole became Communications Director for the Diocese of El Camino Real in June of 2022. Adam has worked together with the Rev. Rob in the founding of the Peace Academy of the Sciences and Arts. Adam has two kiddos, Hazel (7) and Wylder (2).
Pam Pano, SUNDAY SCHOOL DIRECTOR
Pam has been attending St. Barnabas for over 30 years. In January 2022 she became the Sunday School Director. Pam works as a preschool teacher for CAPSLO (Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obsipo) at a school in Guadalupe.
Brian Petersen, Treasurer
Brian Petersen has been attending St. Barnabas for over 20 years. And for the past 19 years, he has served as the church’s Treasurer. He owns and operates Senior Living Consultants, which specializes in senior placement for Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Alzheimer’s Care in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. He lives with his wife, Charmaine, and their three grandchildren in Pismo Beach.