Rev. Lane Cotton Winn, Lead Pastor 
Rev. Lane Cotton Winn became lead pastor at St. John’s in July 2017. Previously she served as the senior pastor at Pearl River United Methodist Church (Pearl River, LA), associate pastor at Aldersgate UMC (Slidell, LA) and associate pastor at First UMC of Amite, LA. Lane earned her bachelor’s degree in communications, with a concentration in photojournalism, from Loyola University in New Orleans. Upon graduating, Lane moved to New York, where she was the staff photographer and audiovisual archivist for the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) of The United Methodist Church. She earned her master of divinity from Emory University and is an ordained elder. 

Lane’s husband, Ben Hartman, teaches 5th grade at the LSU Lab School, and together they have an 8-year-old daughter, Julian, and a four-legged “goldendoodle,” Hagrid. Both Julian and Hagrid are kind-hearted and quite precocious. Lane and Ben share a passion for travel, an appetite for delicious foods, an ear for good music, and enjoy the company of family and friends.

Rev. Deirdre’ Halliburton, Associate Pastor
Rev. Deirdre’ Halliburton provides oversight of our Christian Education programs, fellowship and connection opportunities, including Heavenly Hash, planning of special events, oversight of children and youth ministries alongside other staff and volunteers, and leadership recruitment and development of existing and new ministries. Sunday by Sunday, she adds to our worship services by assisting in vibrant ways of glorifying God with our St. John’s family of faith. Deirdre’s formative years were spent in South Africa where her parents were missionaries to the Zulu people. She attended German Lutheran boarding school while in Africa, and her family moved to America when she was 13 to settle in Mississippi. Deirdre’ graduated from high school at 16 and attended Mississippi College to earn her bachelor’s degree and RN credentials. She lived in Maryland, Virginia and Tennessee before moving to Louisiana in 1995. She raised three beautiful children, Trey, Andree’ and Will.

On staff since 2016, Deirdre’ graduated from Asbury Theological Seminary in May 2019. In June 2019, Deirdre’ was commissioned as a provisional elder in the United Methodist Church and is in the process to become ordained. She received her appointment to St. John’s in 2018 and became full-time associate pastor on July 1, 2019. She loves the great outdoors, people, and books and is humbled and grateful to be on staff at St. John’s! 

Rev. Latrice Mallard, Minister of Mental and Spiritual Care
Rev. Latrice Mallard is a native and current resident of Baton Rouge, LA. She’s a graduate of Glen Oaks Senior High School, Southern University and A&M College, and Asbury Theological Seminary. She is a current DNP student at the University of South Alabama specializing in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing with subspecialties in Addictions and Nursing Education. She has served as a registered nurse for over 13 years in Med-Surg, Utilization Management, Education, and Behavioral Health. She has served in various areas in the local church including the health ministry as a faith community nurse and youth ministry. In 2015, she became a certified candidate for ministry in the United Methodist Church and completed the License to Preach School in 2016. From July 2016 to April 2018, she served as an associate pastor at Jordan UMC. She then served as a lead pastor at Shiloh and St. Peter UMC in Maringouin, LA during the 2018-2019 conference year. In spring 2019, she served as an intern at St. John’s UMC.

In 2020, as she joins St. John’s UMC as a provisional deacon, she understands that her experience in mental health and nursing continues to help her see all of God’s people as He sees them at their worst and best. She hopes to continue extending love, being His example of light in dark places, being in ministry with the least, last, and lost; helping people identify their ‘puzzle piece’ in ministry, and helping them to see how God is building and rebuilding them up in this season.

Dr. Terry Byars, Accompanist
Terry holds a B.S. in English Education from LSU and a Ph.D. in Theatre Arts also from LSU. He is currently Assistant Professor of Theatre at River Parishes Community College. He has been the St. John’s organist since 2001.

Carrie Poynot, Director of Music Ministries
Carrie, a native of Arkansas, received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Music Education from Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. She earned a Master of Music from LSU in Choral Conducting. Carrie taught choir (and an occasional speech and drama class) for six years to 5th-12th graders. She also worked as an activities director at a retirement home here in Baton Rouge. Carrie started at St. John’s in 2015 and now teaches at Episcopal School of Baton Rouge. She loves to sing, play fiddle and banjo and hang out with her three dogs Buckley, Elsee and Millie! 

Lynn Cooper, Administrative Assistant
Lynn, a long-time member of St. John’s, joined the church staff in August 2014 after working 25 years in the non-profit field. She has two grown sons, Paul and Jody, two daughters-in-law, Natalie and Kimberly, and four grandchildren, Kellen, Madeline, Elizabeth and Ivy.

LeAnn Davis, Manager of Finance and Facilities
LeAnn joined St. John’s staff in December 2017.

ShiRae Transou, Children and Family Ministries Director
ShiRae comes to us from the Center for Youth Ministry Training (CYMT) as a Resident in Youth Ministry. CYMT residents earn a Master of Arts in Youth Ministry from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary while also serving half-time at a local church during the three-year degree program starting summer 2021. ShiRae was born in New York, but has spent most of her life in Fort Myers, Florida. She is a 2021 graduate of Florida Southern College with a B.A. in Religion: Youth Ministry and a minor in Studio Art. During the summers of 2018 and 2019, ShiRae worked for TEAMeffort, a construction based missions organization for middle school and high school youth groups. In these missions experiences is where she began to see and embrace the call that God has put on her life for ministry. While working on her degree at Florida Southern College she served on the Children’s Ministries team at First UMC of Lakeland for two years where she continued to embrace her calling. ShiRae is an artist, a reader, and loves to go on adventures! 

Haleigh Schwartz, Youth Director
Haleigh comes to us from the Center for Youth Ministry Training (CYMT) as a Resident in Youth Ministry. CYMT residents earn a Master of Arts in Youth Ministry from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary while also serving half-time at a local church during the three-year degree program starting summer 2020. Haleigh grew up in Prairieville, graduated from St. Amant High School, and her parents currently live in Lottie. Her home church is First United Methodist Church in Gonzales. In 2019, Haleigh graduated from Louisiana Tech with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, which includes minors in Exercise Science, Health Science, and Psychology. While at Louisiana Tech, she was active in the Wesley Foundation campus ministry. Through the Wesley Foundation, Haleigh served on three one-month-long mission trips during the summer to Cambodia in 2016 and Haiti in 2017 and 2018. These mission experiences helped her embrace her calling into youth ministry. After graduating Tech, Haleigh remained in Ruston to serve as a youth intern at Trinity United Methodist Church. Haleigh is a photographer, musician, and recreational athlete.

Todd Justice, Media Producer
Joining our staff in June 2021, Todd worked in the broadcast/video industry for the last 25 years. A majority of that time was spent working for the local PBS affiliate, a statewide television network. In addition to his professional career, he has had a very diversified set of skills and abilities achieved over a lifetime of unique jobs and interesting experiences. Lessons learned from his grandfather have taught him to welcome new challenges, embrace other’s opinions, and always learn when given the chance. Todd is married and the proud father of an 8 year-old son, Jackson, pictured above.

Joey Lizana, AV Media Tech Coordinator
Joey joined St. John’s staff in October 2020. He will leave sometime in June 2021 to focus on his work at See Here Productions.

Bill Putzig, Custodian
Bill has been attending St. John’s for more than 12 years. He maintains our facilities and grounds and helps manage set up for all of our St. John’s worship services and events since 2017. He was born and raised in Florida and moved to Baton Rouge in 1997. Bill loves to hike and has two cats!