Our Team
Rev. Dr. K Karpen
Senior Pastor
K is the senior pastor of St. Paul & St. Andrew and has served this progressive congregation since 1984. He holds degrees from Cornell University (BS) and Union Theological Seminary (MDiv, STM, PhD). He served for 15 years as a chaplain to Columbia University. He is currently in his second term on the New York Conference Board of Ordained Ministry. He serves on the Board of Directors of West Side Campaign Against Hunger. He has taught at Drew Theological School and Union Theological Seminary. Prior to seminary, K served as a Fellow of the Council on Economic Priorities. He is passionate about interfaith work, ministry with the poor and marginalized, and the possibility of an inclusive church.
Contact K: K@stpaulandstandrew.org
Rev. Lea Matthews
Associate Pastor
Lea is the Associate Pastor at St. Paul & St. Andrew in New York City. Lea has been called and is committed to doing the intentional and intersectional work of actualizing our collective liberation. As an ordained deacon, her ministry focuses on growing souls, building inclusive and supportive community, and expanding and deepening faith life beyond worship. Lea is on the Leadership Team of D3 Open Arms, which helps to support newly arriving students and their families in District 3 public schools. She is also a consultant with the Interfaith Center, working collaboratively with faith leaders from diverse houses of worship to support refugees and asylum-seekers in the city. She serves on the Metropolitan District Committee on Ministries in the New York Annual Conference. She is on the Executive Leadership Committee of the United Methodist Queer Clergy Caucus and is a member of the Advisory Board of Methodists in New Directions. She also is on the Board of Lutheran Higher Education Ministries, which support progressive, ecumenical campus ministries in Manhattan. Since 2016, she has worked at Union Theological Seminary, supporting students professionally and pastorally in peer groups. Lea received her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary, with a concentration in Biblical Studies and Pastoral Care. She holds a Master of Education from Lehman College and a Bachelor of Arts from San Francisco State University, where she studied literature and human sexuality. Lea taught English Language Arts in the Bronx Public Schools for a decade, before entering the ministry. She currently resides in the Bronx, with her wife, Rachel, and their daughter, Nora.
Contact Lea: lea@stpaulandstandrew.org
Andrea Steinkamp
Assistant Pastor
Andrea Steinkamp is the Assistant Pastor and Communications Manager at St. Paul and St. Andrew. Her call to ministry is rooted in a desire to create and facilitate spaces of respite and community where people can be fed, both physically and spiritually, nourished to encourage and sustain their ethical action in the world. Andrea received her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary with a concentration in cross-testament Biblical studies and is a candidate for ordination in the United Church of Christ (“UCC”). Prior to attending seminary, Andrea was an active lay leader for the Collegiate Church of New York and its ministries, serving as both an Elder and Deacon. From 2019-2020, Andrea served as the Chair of the Full Consistory of the Collegiate Church of New York. She also served for many years on the Parent Teacher Association, as Treasurer and Co-President, and on the School Leadership Team, at PS 199, a local public school in our Upper West Side neighborhood. Andrea was selected as an Odyssey Fellow for 2022-2023, a program for emerging international faith leaders aimed at developing peacebuilding and conflict resolution skills across cultural, political and religious divides. Born and raised in Michigan, Andrea spent over a decade working in finance and real estate development before moving to New York City with her husband and two young sons in 2011. She graduated from Miami University in Oxford, OH with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting. When she’s not at St. Paul and St. Andrew, Andrea is working as a chaplaincy intern at New York Presbyterian hospital, or can be found hitting the gym, walking with a friend in the park, baking or cooking for anyone who needs to be fed, or cheering from the sidelines at a variety of sporting events. She currently lives in Manhattan with her husband, Neil, sons, Caiden (when he’s not away at college) and Lincoln, and their two rescue dogs, Chi Chi and Baxter.
Contact Andrea: andrea@stpaulandstandrew.org
Ekama Eni
Youth & Campus Pastor
Ekama (she/her) is the Youth and Campus Pastor at St Paul & St Andrew where she is helping to shepherd the youth (as well as find lots of opportunities to eat with them) as well as serving as the co-pastor to the LaMP campus ministry Uptown. Ekama graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Psychology. She spent a mission year in Scotland, an experience which very much ignited a call to pursue full-time ministry. Ekama has a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and is pursuing ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA). When she's not at St. Paul & St. Andrew, she works in the Office of Advancement and External Affairs at General Theological Seminary in Chelsea, or can be found taking naps, or exploring new corners of Manhattan.
Contact Ekama: ekama@stpaulandstandrew.org
Dr. Frank Glass
Minister of Music
Frank is the Minister of Music at St. Paul & St. Andrew. He has blessed this community in that role for over 40 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and music from Duke University and graduate degrees in voice and musicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His book on Richard Wagner, The Fertilizing Seed, is almost as interesting to read as it is difficult to find. He comes from a long line of Georgia Methodists on his mother’s side and an even longer line of Italian Roman Catholics on his father’s. His musical influences and interests are many and varied and include a particular fondness for the spiritual songs of the nineteenth-century Southern singing schools in America. Over the years, Frank has written and arranged scores of anthems for the wonderful volunteer choir at St. Paul & St. Andrew. Close to a hundred of those anthems and his songs for solo voice have been published by J.W. Pepper Music. Fifteen of his choral works can be heard at www,vimeo.com/frankglass, as well as on his YouTube channel.
Contact Frank: frank@stpaulandstandrew.org
Aurora Celestin
Seminary Intern
Aurora Lynelle Celestin has been attending St. Paul and St. Andrew since she was 3 months old. She has served the community in a variety of ways over the years as a musician, Sunday School teacher, Vacation Bible School counselor and assistant director, reader, usher, devotional writer, antiracism discussion facilitator, and annual conference lay member. A member of the church since her confirmation in 2014, she is proud to now be uplifted by the community in pursuit of ordination for deacon's orders. Aurora has a BA from Columbia University ('20) and an MFA in creative writing from The New School ('22). She is currently an MDiv candidate at Union Theological Seminary. A womanist theologian, poet, fiction writer, and playwright, she is the writing professor for the Harlem Clemente Course in the Humanities, a program of Bard College that seeks to increase accessibility to higher education by offering free humanities classes to adults from 17-70+ years old. Aurora has been a lifelong Upper Westsider with her Haitian and Barbadian immigrant family. She is an adoptive sister to 3 pandemic cats: Oreo, Marshmallow, and Peanut, affectionately called "The Snacks"!
Contact Aurora: aurora@stpaulandstandrew.org
