“I served as their intern 20 years ago when I was in seminary,” June Wann, new pastor of Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, said. “It was an amazing experience. I did that internship from 2004 to 2005. So they (congregation members) were very excited when they found out who they were going to be interviewing.”

Twenty years later, Wann is back at Faith.

“It’s a full circle,” she noted.

Wann, whose official start date as pastor at the 3355 MacArthur Road, Whitehall, church was April 15, graduated from Kutztown University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Social Work. In 2006, she earned her Master of Divinity from Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia.

She was ordained in December of 2006 at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Kutztown, the church she attended growing up.

Her first sermon as pastor of Faith Evangelical Lutheran was delivered April 21.

When she was ready for a new “calling,” what Wann terms as the desire or need to transition to another church, she contacted the Northern Pennsylvania Synod. Wann worked with the synod to look through paperwork on the churches that were looking for a new pastor.

This process continued with Wann meeting with a committee of about six people for an interview. This committee voted, and members agreed to have Wann speak with the church council for an interview. The council voted and agreed to have her name presented to the congregation.

On Feb. 11, Wann preached her call sermon on transfiguration, and, immediately after, the congregation voted to have her be the new pastor of Faith.

Wann, who lives in Womelsdorf, said this is the third church she’s serving. Her first church was St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Lumberton, N.C., serving there for almost four years. She then went back home and led a new call at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Womelsdorf for 13 years.

When asked what led to her becoming a pastor, Wann said the calling started from a young age.

“It was always a calling that I had since I was a kid,” Wann said. “Instead of playing school, I would play church. But I never saw women in ministry until I was in college. When I was at St. John’s, there was a female pastor there, and she really helped me focus what was going to come next after graduation. Seeing her in action made me think, ‘Wow! OK! I can do this.’ She was very instrumental in helping me narrow down my call to ministry while I was in college.”

That mentor is the Rev. Diane LaFauci, who is now retired.

As with any position, there are challenges to overcome. Wann said a challenge of being a pastor is trying to serve everyone.

“Faith is a little bit of a bigger congregation, so how do I make myself available to all of the congregation when there’s just one of me?” Wann said. “Pastors always want to be enough. They want to be able to help people, and sometimes it’s a challenge.

“And Faith has big shoes to fill,” Wann added.

Those metaphorical shoes Wann is referring to belonged to the Rev. Michael Bodnyk Sr. Bodnyk served as pastor of Faith from 1995 to 2019. He died in November of 2019.

“I just want to be half the pastor he was,” Wann said.

Although there are some struggles to being a pastor, there are many joys, too.

Wann shared just one of her favorite things about serving a church.

“My most favorite thing that I am privileged to do as a pastor is baptism of children,” Wann said. “In ministry, we deal with so many difficult things, so when you have something that’s so joyful, it’s always exciting to see a baptism. Bringing a child into that family of faith is amazing. It’s an amazing gift.”

An upcoming event the church is holding, just in time for the new upcoming academic year, is a backpack event for students in Whitehall-Coplay School District, set for 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Aug. 10. Kids can get a backpack and fill it with school supplies. The church is looking for donations of backpacks and supplies. If you would like to contribute, call the church office at 610-435-0451.

“Our goal is 100 backpacks,” Wann said.

The church is also hosting a Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative free community meal 4-6 p.m. Sept. 1 and its annual fall craft and quilt fair Nov. 9, Wann shared.

Wann said she has a lot of goals she’d like to help Faith reach.

“We definitely want to grow. We want to focus on family and youth ministries,” she said. “Kids are our future, so without younger people coming in, congregations will leak out. We are putting a focus next year on our youth and family ministries and trying to build those.”

An immediate goal is to find an organist. The church recently purchased a new organ and needs someone to fill the role in the music department. The organ is expected to be delivered by the end of this month.

Wann also wants to provide stability for the congregation. After losing a beloved pastor and going through a lot of change, she said she wants to give the reassurance that she’s staying.

“I’m not going anywhere. This is a great congregation. We’re going to move forward. I want to make people feel like this church is their home,” Wann said. “That’s my ongoing goal.”