Where Sacred Music Meets a Parish-Sized Food Pantry on the Hill
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church sits on a hill overlooking Palm Desert and the Coachella Valley, with sweeping views of the Santa Rosa Mountains. From this campus the parish runs a renowned concert series around a four-manual Quimby pipe organ, feeds hundreds of families each Tuesday through Neighbors-4-Neighbors, welcomes LGBTQ+ couples for weddings, hosts one of the most extensive schedules of twelve-step recovery meetings in the valley, and offers a public Chartres-style labyrinth for prayer and meditation. St. Margaret's is a beacon of hope in a world where every person who walks through the door encounters God.
A Parish Where Music Opens the Door to God
At the heart of St. Margaret's is a program of sacred music understood not as decoration but as proclamation. Music and the arts are not decoration; they are proclamation. Rooted in the Anglican tradition and shaped by the beauty of the Book of Common Prayer, the parish teaches that beauty is a pathway to God, that through choral music, sacred art, architecture, and liturgy, the congregation engages heart, mind, and spirit in worship that is reverent, expansive, and alive.
The instrument that anchors the program is the Quimby Pipe Organ, Opus 50 of the Quimby Pipe Organ Company of Warrensburg, Missouri. Dedicated on St. Margaret's Day in 1998, the organ is a four-manual-and-pedal instrument of 58 stops, 71 ranks, and 4,291 pipes. It incorporates color stops by the early-twentieth-century American builder Ernest M. Skinner and twenty digital stops that support congregational singing in the rear of the nave and balcony. The instrument was designed to accompany the Anglican service and to play centuries of organ literature, all of which has been explored through a yearly recital series since its installation. Quimby also restored the great organ in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City.
The St. Margaret's Choir leads congregational song at Sunday services, major feast days, concerts, Choral Evensong, and other special liturgies. Made up of volunteer choristers, professional Staff Singers, and Choral Scholars (advanced high school and college music students), the choir's repertoire spans Gregorian and Anglican chant, Renaissance polyphony, traditional and contemporary anthem literature, spirituals, world music, and hymnody. The Handbell Choir enriches worship with hymn-based settings, sacred arrangements, and original compositions. David Christopher, MM, CAGO, directs music and serves as organist; John Wright is Director of Music and Organist Emeritus.
Three concert series bring musicians of national and international caliber to the Coachella Valley. Beginning with the 2026-27 season, the flagship series is now called the Fred Swann Concert Series, established in honor and memory of St. Margaret's beloved Organist-in-Residence. The season welcomes the Clare College Choir from the University of Cambridge, the St. Olaf Choir, and concert organists Nicole Keller and Clark Wilson, alongside programs of organ and brass, harpsichord, and chamber music. The Choir Series presents Choral Evensongs, a Rutter Requiem, Christmas Lessons and Carols, a Spirituals Concert with the La Quinta High School Concert Choir, and Benjamin Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb. On Fridays in Lent, notable organists from Southern California give half-hour recitals at noon on the Quimby, followed by a lunch prepared by the congregation.
Sunday and Mid-Week Worship
Sunday worship at St. Margaret's centers on the Holy Eucharist at 8 and 10 AM. The 10 AM service is livestreamed on YouTube. On Wednesdays at 10 AM, a mid-week Eucharist is celebrated in the Firestone Chapel. Professional childcare is offered at both Sunday services; Godly Play Sunday School meets during the 10 AM service on the first and third Sundays of each month from September through May, for children ages four and up. Children's bulletins and crayons are available in the foyer.
Visitors are greeted by ushers who hand out service bulletins, and the bulletins guide the congregation through when to sit, stand, and kneel. Members come from a wide variety of Christian backgrounds, or from none, so there is freedom to participate as much or as little as feels right. Communion is offered to everyone, no exceptions. Visitors are not singled out, asked to come forward, or put on the spot; anyone curious about the Episcopal Church or about becoming a member is invited to fill out a Welcome Card and place it in the offering plate.
Neighbors-4-Neighbors: A Parish-Sized Food Pantry
St. Margaret's signature outreach is Neighbors-4-Neighbors, a food and clothing assistance program that began in 2007 when the parish youth group held a rummage sale, raised $300, and watched that first effort grow into one of the largest parish food distributions in the Coachella Valley. To date the program has served more than 375,000 families, distributing millions of pounds of supplemental food and more than 150,000 articles of clothing each year.
Food and clothing are distributed every Tuesday from 10 AM to 5 PM. Each weekly food package includes fresh fruit and vegetables, protein, bread, and pantry staples gathered through donations from many local businesses and agencies. Hundreds of gently worn men's, women's, and children's clothing items are sorted and hung in the Threads Boutique, and N4N connects clients with other community resources through partner booths. The program is sustained by more than 65 active volunteers who help an average of 600 families each week. Volunteers are welcome Tuesdays between 7 AM and 5:30 PM; gently used clothing and shoes can be dropped off at Meyers Hall on Tuesdays from 8 AM to 4:30 PM and on Saturdays from 9 AM to 11 AM.
Neighbors of the Cahuilla and the Land We Stand On
A land acknowledgement at the heart of the parish reads simply: We acknowledge with respect the Cahuilla people as the Original Peoples of this land. A fuller statement names the parish's location on ancestral Cahuilla lands, laments the history of colonization, dispossession, and cultural degradation endured by indigenous communities, and promises to honor the dignity of Cahuilla people past and present and to care for the land.
The Neighbors of the Cahuilla ministry grew out of a January 2022 study circle organized by parishioners eager to learn about the eight local bands of Indians, most of whom are of Cahuilla lineage. The work has since expanded into Sacred Ground, an eleven-part film and readings-based dialogue series on race grounded in faith, with documentary films and readings focused on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories. A Pastoral Letter regarding the Doctrine of Discovery written by Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori and Acts of Convention Resolution 2009-D035, which repudiates the Doctrine of Discovery, are central reference points for the ministry's reflection and advocacy.
A Network of Recovery Meetings
St. Margaret's campus hosts one of the most extensive parish-based recovery meeting schedules in the Coachella Valley. Twelve-step and related groups meet throughout the week in rooms throughout the building, independently of the parish but welcomed into its life. Mondays include a 5:30 PM Co-Dependency group (CODA), a 6:30 PM women's AA meeting, and a 7 PM men's AA meeting. Tuesdays feature a 6 PM women's CODA group, a 7 PM Al-Anon meeting, and three 7 PM men's AA meetings. Wednesdays offer a 3:45 PM Overeaters Anonymous meeting and a 7 PM co-ed AA meeting. Thursdays include a 5:30 PM Spirituality AA meeting, a 5:30 PM Narcotics Anonymous meeting, and 7 PM AA meetings. Fridays begin with a 10 AM women's AA meeting and continue through the evening. Saturday mornings bring an 8:30 AM women's AA meeting; Saturday evenings, a 7 PM AA speaker meeting. Sunday afternoons include an ACA Big Red Book Study at 3:30 PM and a women's NA meeting at 5:30 PM. Communication about meeting time changes and cancellations is the responsibility of each group, not the parish.
Pastoral Care and Stephen Ministry
Pastoral Care is a significant ministry at St. Margaret's. In addition to the clergy, a team of Lay Eucharistic Visitors cares for parishioners and neighbors who are ill, hospitalized, in nursing homes, in long-term care, in assisted living, supported by hospice, or homebound. The ministry is led by Associate Rector the Rev. Patricia Horkey and centers on prayer, scripture, and the sacrament of Holy Communion brought to those unable to attend worship.
Stephen Ministry extends that care through laypeople trained to provide one-to-one support to those going through grief, divorce, job loss, chronic or terminal illness, or relocation. Mary Harrison and Dr. Ted Masek, together with Fr. Andrew Butler, recently completed five weeks of training alongside peers from across the country to lead the next generation of Stephen Ministers at St. Margaret's. Stephen Ministry is part of a wider ecumenical movement: since 1975, more than 600,000 people from more than 14,000 congregations and other organizations have been trained as Stephen Ministers.
Peace, Justice, and Solidarity
The Peace and Justice Ministry Team at St. Margaret's grounds its work in the Baptismal Covenant: We will strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being. The team addresses immigration, racial justice, gun violence, and peace in the Holy Land through education, advocacy, and direct action.
Immigration and Migrant Support partners with Border Compassion, a ministry that invites faith communities to cross the border and serve at La Posada del Migrante in Mexicali, Mexico, a shelter that houses up to 300 people. Voices for Peace in the Holy Land holds monthly meetings, films, interfaith discussions, and fundraising to pursue justice for Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the region. Living Without Fear, founded in 2015 in response to the mass shootings at Sandy Hook and Mother Emanuel AME Church, works to respect the dignity of every human being, advocate for a nonviolent path of life, and build a coalition of people of faith to address all forms of violence.
Solidarity with Immigrants and Refugees (SIR) is the parish's most recent expansion of that work. SIR grew out of Desert Support for Asylum Seekers, which St. Margaret's launched in 2019 to help detainees released from federal detention centers. As the realities of immigration enforcement shifted in 2025, the parish broadened its mission to include immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees already in the United States. SIR has two arms: Active Assistance, which empowers the congregation, migrants, and Neighbors-4-Neighbors clients through education, administrative support, and information; and Peaceful Resistance, which pursues goals through legal means including policy advocacy and nonviolent demonstrations.
Creation Care and the Good Earth Project
St. Margaret's Creation Care Ministry tends God's earth through education, advocacy, and mobilization in three initiatives: the Good Earth Project, the Comm-Unity Garden, and Campus Care.
The Good Earth Project, launched in 2021 through a collaboration between Neighbors-4-Neighbors and Desert Compost, was the first community composting partnership in the Coachella Valley. The program diverts food waste from the food pantry and from community donors into finished compost used in the parish's own Unity Garden and Rose Garden, as well as at the College of the Desert Children's Center Garden. Since the program's start, nearly 29,000 pounds of organics have been diverted from landfills. Compost is available for home use for a small donation. The Comm-Unity Garden is a space for people, creatures, and earth to live in Unity, just as God intended, developed and tended by community volunteers. Campus Care applies the three R's of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to daily parish life. The parish's gardens are members of the Episcopal Church's Good News Garden Movement and the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge.
The Labyrinth on the Hill
South of the church building, an outdoor labyrinth modeled after the labyrinth constructed in the sanctuary of Chartres Cathedral in France in 1201 invites walkers into meditation. Both labyrinths have eleven circuits surrounding six-petal rose centers. Alice Ravndal Sleight (1937-2022) gave the labyrinth in memory of her husband Frederick W. Sleight, with the dedication Given by his family to the glory of God and in loving memory of Frederick W Sleight, Visionary.
The labyrinth is open to the public Monday through Saturday from dawn to dusk and on Sundays from 1 PM to dusk. People walk it to pray, meditate, seek insight, heal, seek forgiveness, give thanks, deal with a difficult situation, or find solace from a loss. There is no right or wrong way to walk a labyrinth. Marilyn Zimmerman, an Advanced Certified Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator, helps reintroduce the path to the parish and the wider community. Two printable labyrinths are available online: a modified Chartres 7-Circuit Labyrinth for beginners and the traditional Chartres 11-Circuit Labyrinth for those who cannot physically walk the path.
Weddings, Quinceaneras, and Event Rentals
St. Margaret's hosts weddings and welcomes loving couples of every configuration, including LGBTQ+ couples. Weddings are celebrated in the main Sanctuary, built in 1989 with vaulted ceilings and mountain views, or in the more intimate Firestone Chapel. The Sanctuary seats 700; the chapel seats 50. Receptions and sit-down dinners can be hosted in Karns Community Center, a flexible space with a vaulted ceiling, French doors that open to a covered patio, a fully equipped kitchen, and capacity for 200 theater-style or 15 rounds.
Quinceaneras are also hosted in Karns Community Center, which has hosted receptions, dinners, concerts, meetings, lectures, and quinces of many kinds. Outside catering is permitted, the kitchen is fully equipped, the building is handicapped accessible, and wireless internet is available throughout. Wedding and event inquiries are handled by Parish Administrator Debby Jansma.
The Sanctuary, the Chapel, and the Columbarium
The 1989 Sanctuary is the heart of the campus, with soaring beamed ceilings, stained glass windows, and mountain views. The Firestone Chapel, dedicated in 1990 on the Sanctuary's lower level and modeled after St. Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh Castle, hosts the Wednesday Healing Service and other small-group liturgies. Karns Community Center, originally the church's first sanctuary from 1967, was thoroughly renovated in 2015; its kitchen was remodeled and upgraded in 2018.
A 72-niche columbarium completed in 1998 alongside the new Quimby organ offers a serene sacred space for the placement and perpetual care of cremated remains. Niches can be reserved during funeral pre-planning or purchased by family members after a loved one's death. The Peggy and Donald Cravens Pet Memorial Garden extends that ministry to companion animals: a tranquil garden setting for the ashes of beloved pets, with engraved plaques on granite wall niches, open year-round for visits. Pets and their people of all faiths, or none, are welcome.
Faith Formation for Adults
Adult formation at St. Margaret's is intentionally called formation rather than education. Formation is a process like apprenticeship that goes beyond amassing information; it engages the whole person, intellect, passions, and spirit, in the never-ending journey of becoming like Jesus Christ.
Hear the Spirit, From Home meets online via Zoom on Wednesdays from 8 to 9:30 AM, led by the Rev. Dan Rondeau, the parish's former Assistant Rector. The group tunes its heart to the Holy Spirit by reading the scriptures appointed for the following Sunday. Reflections on the Word meets Sundays after the 9 AM hour in the Lee 1 Classroom, facilitated by Don Johnson with expert art commentary by Hovak Najarian. The group explores the historical, literary, aesthetic, and personal applications of the week's readings.
Education for Ministry (EfM), a lay theological education program offered through the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, has been offered at St. Margaret's since 2012. EfM is a four-year seminar program of study, prayer, and theological conversation. The 2026-27 group meets on Wednesdays from 1:30 to 4 PM in the church library, September through May.
Children and Sunday School
St. Margaret's is a place of love, learning, and acceptance for all children and families, including those who identify as LGBTQ+. Godly Play Sunday School, offered on the first and third Sundays of each month from September through May during the 10 AM service, is designed for children ages four and older. Godly Play is a curriculum of spiritual practice that engages children and youth in story, wonder, and play. Children are dismissed for Godly Play from the Sanctuary after the Collect of the Day. Each Christmas Eve, children from the congregation and the community retell the story of Jesus' birth at the Family Service Christmas Pageant.
LGBTQ+ Affirming and Inclusive
St. Margaret's is welcoming and inclusive of all and explicitly celebrates, honors, and raises awareness of the LGBTQ+ community. The parish embraces the Episcopal Church's teaching that ordination and the offices of bishop, priest, and deacon are open to all without discrimination, that laypeople and clergy cooperate as leaders at all levels of the church, and that God loves all people without exception. The parish welcomes LGBTQ+ couples for weddings and celebrates Pride at the altar.
Daughters of the King and Other Connections
Daughters of the King is an international order of lay women whose mission is the extension of Christ's Kingdom through Prayer, Service, and Evangelism. The St. Margaret's chapter meets monthly from September through June, with meetings that include prayer, study aimed at spiritual growth, and a short business session. Members pray daily for congregation members, families, friends, and clergy and are actively involved in service and evangelism across the parish's ministries.
Stitch and Chat gathers fiber artists who crochet, knit, and hook rugs together on Mondays from 9 to 11:30 AM. Two Licensed Lay Evangelists, Jim Duke and Samantha Hirsch, were licensed by Bishop Susan Brown Snook to lead the parish's Evangelism Team.
Beliefs and Practice
As Episcopalians, St. Margaret's follows the teachings of Jesus Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection saved the world, and believes that God loves all people without exception. The parish worships from the Book of Common Prayer, reads the Bible as its foundation through tradition and reason, and proclaims the Apostles' Creed and Nicene Creed as its statements of basic belief about God. Baptism is full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ's Body, the Church. The Holy Eucharist is celebrated at every Sunday service; everyone is welcome to receive.
The parish recognizes seven sacraments or sacramental rites: Baptism, the Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation of a Penitent (private confession), Matrimony, Orders, and Unction (anointing with oil for the sick or dying). The Baptismal Covenant, a mini-catechism used at baptisms and on Easter and other special occasions, opens with the Apostles' Creed and adds five questions about how Christians are called to live out their faith in the world.
The parish's stated core values are Faith (God is within us every moment of every day), Love (we humbly and joyfully follow the inspiring example of Jesus Christ), Truth (each person is a beloved child of God), Joy (we celebrate God in communion with one another through inspiring worship and jubilant music), and Hope (we seek the fulfillment of God's beloved community in all things, seen and unseen).
A Sixty-Year Story
Worship began at St. Margaret's in 1963, when a small group met in a home and chose the name St. Margaret. The next year Bishop Bloy designated the new congregation a preaching station, the founders received sufficient pledges to become a diocesan mission, and the Rev. Peter Brownlee was appointed vicar. By 1967 the original sanctuary had been outgrown and was repurposed as Karns Parish Hall.
During the 1970s the parish grew: a new parish hall (now the Lee Classroom Building), a bell tower, and the St Margaret's Cellar Door Thrift Store. In 1987, groundbreaking ceremonies for a new sanctuary drew President and Mrs. Gerald R. Ford, Ambassador and Mrs. Leonard Firestone, and the Rev. Dean Miller of a neighboring Presbyterian parish. The Cross on the Hill was officially retitled St. Margaret's Cross on the Hill that year. On November 16, 1989, the Feast of St Margaret, the new sanctuary was consecrated. In 1990, the Firestone Chapel was dedicated; in 1995, the Nordstrom Campus of St Margaret's School was dedicated; in 1998 the Quimby organ and outdoor columbarium were completed and blessed.
In 2001, the outdoor labyrinth was constructed and consecrated. In 2004, the Right Reverend James Mathes became bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego. In December 2006, longtime parishioner President Gerald R. Ford passed into eternal life; his funeral was held at St Margaret's and at his home parish in Michigan. In 2007, Maggie's Basement Outreach Ministry (now Neighbors-4-Neighbors) opened. In 2010, the Rev. Lane Hensley was called as rector; in 2011 the Nordstrom Campus School closed and the parish adopted the mission statement Build the Body, Equip the Saints, Change the World. The Rev. Shivaun Wilkinson was ordained to the priesthood in 2012. In 2017, a solar project agreement was reached and the Nordstrom school property was sold; Neighbors-4-Neighbors received a Berger Foundation Grant. In June 2019, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Susan Brown Snook was ordained as Bishop of San Diego. In June 2020, the Rev. Andrew G. Butler, III was called and began his ministry as the seventh Rector of St Margaret's.
Rectors of the Parish: Peter J. Brownlee (1964-1970), John D. Harrison (1970-1978), Robert Burton (1979-1984), G. Bradford Hall, Jr. (1984-1997), Robert G. Certain (1998-2007), Lane G. Hensley (2010-2020), and Andrew G. Butler, III (2020-present).
Clergy, Staff, and Lay Leadership
The congregation is led by the rector, assisting clergy, and program and support staff, with lay leadership exercised through the Vestry, the parish's elected board of directors. The current Senior Warden is Vivianne Battikha; the Junior Warden is Scott McCabe. Stewardship 2026 Co-Chairs are Vivianne Fernquist and Scott McCabe; this year's stewardship campaign is entitled Renewed in Faith, Rejoicing in Giving.
The Rev. Andrew G. Butler III is Rector. The Rev. Patricia Horkey is Associate Rector for Pastoral Care. The Very Rev. Canon John E. Crean, Jr., is Assisting Priest. David Christopher, MM, CAGO, is Director of Music and Organist. John Wright is Director of Music and Organist Emeritus. Zoey Masterson is Program Director of Neighbors-4-Neighbors. Debby Jansma is Parish Administrator.
Giving, Membership, and the Legacy Society
You do not have to be a formal member of St. Margaret's in order to worship, attend classes, participate in activities, or financially contribute to the ministries of the parish. All persons, adults and children, are always welcome to receive Communion. To become a member, visitors are invited to explore Confirmation or Reception (for those already confirmed in another denomination by a bishop in apostolic succession), Baptism, or transfer of membership from another Episcopal parish.
Annual pledges sustain the parish's ministries. Pledge packets arrive by mail in October; pledge cards can be filled out online or returned by mail. A Legacy Society and Endowment Fund, established by the Vestry in 2023, allows parishioners to include St. Margaret's in their estate plans; the Endowment Fund supports the Ministries and Facilities Permanent Endowment and the Fred Swann Music Permanent Endowment. Recognized planned-gift donors are added to the Legacy Tree in the narthex unless they prefer anonymity.