The Washington Memorial Chapel has announced the appointment of Reverend Mark Nestlehutt as its sixth Rector in its 116 year-history.

In this position, he will serve as the community’s main preacher and teacher and will be responsible for helping the parish to articulate its vision and carry out its mission as a community seeking to follow Christ. He will also carry out many executive director duties for the Chapel, including: appointing and supervising the parish staff, overseeing the parish’s programs and spiritual formation and collaborating with the Chapel’s secular arm, Washington Memorial Heritage in a $4.5 million restoration campaign.

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Prior to joining the Chapel, Nestlehutt was the Rector of Christ Church-St. Michael’s Parish in Saint Michaels, Maryland for more than 13 years and before that held positions as Associate Rector for Christian Formation and Chaplain to the Day School at St. Chrysostom’s Church in Chicago (2001-2003); Chaplain and Aide to the Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE, Bishop of Massachusetts (2000-2001); and Curate of the Episcopal Parish of St. John the Evangelist in Hingham, Massachusetts (1997-2000).

Nestlehutt also lived and worked at St. Christopher’s Church in the black township of Sobantu in KwaZulu-Natal Province and interned at the Cathedral Foundation of St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, through a grant from The Episcopal Church’s Standing Committee on Mission (1997) and at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Athens, Greece in the Church of England’s Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe (1996).

A native of Atlanta, Nestlehutt studied at the University of Georgia (economics and history) and Georgia State University (international relations and foreign policy). He also served as an officer in the U.S. Navy (1986-1989) and worked for five years in commercial banking and asset planning in New Orleans, Atlanta, and Baltimore before attending seminary. He attended seminary at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts (EDS) with a concentration in Anglican, Global and Ecumenical Studies, and holds a certificate in World Mission and Ecumenism from the Boston Theological Institute (BTI).

Nestlehutt lives in Berwyn, PA with his wife, the Reverend Abigail Crozier Nestlehutt, their two teenage children, a Golden Retriever, and an Amazon Parrot. His longtime interests and activities include cycling, sailing, playing squash, hiking, traveling, watching rugby (he played from 1980-2012), reading for pleasure, theatre, and opera (immediately prior to being called to the Chapel, Mark spent 18 months as the Director of Planned Giving at Opera Philadelphia).

The Washington Memorial Chapel is currently embarking on Phase II of a $4.5 million capital campaign for restoration.  “We look forward to collaborating with Rev. Nestlehutt to enable success of our Campaign for the Restoration of this unique church and museum which is located in Valley Forge Park, Pennsylvania”, said Maria Bomersbach, President of Washington Memorial Heritage (WMH).  WMH is the secular non profit 501c3 arm of the Chapel whose mission is preservation and education of the architectural, artistic and historic treasures at WMC.

For more information click here.

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