A native North Carolinian and third generation pastor, Rev. Wanda Childs 51 years old, brought her Southern Baptist roots to the ministry of St. Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church on September 5, 1999.

Pastor Childs attended college at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina receiving a Bachelors degree in Sociology. She attended Southeastern Theological Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina and Southern Lutheran Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina.

She and her husband David Ellis, formerly of the Roman Catholic tradition, joined the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1995. They were seeking a common church home together and were drawn to the many strengths of the ELCA: 1) the emphasis in the Bible as the foundation of belief, teachings and practices 2) the lifting up of the scriptural teaching that salvation is a gift of God’s grace and not of our good works, 3) a commitment to ecumenicity and to social justice, 4) a strong sense of fellowship and community.

Her husband, David Ellis, Psy.D., is a Clinical Psychologist with Laurel Ridge Psychological Associates in Princeton, WV. He last served as the Chief of Psychology Services at the Federal Corrections Institution in Beckley. They have three boys: Nathaniel – age 16, Zachary – age 15, and Benjamin – age 14.

Past ministries are:

       Church pianist & organist

       Youth & Music Director

       Overseas mission work in Brazil

       Chaplain Resident and Intern at St. Elizabeths Psychiatric Hospital

       Staff Chaplain at the Federal Corrections Institution in Danbury, Connecticut

       Supervisory Chaplain at the Federal Corrections Institution in Allenwood, Pennsylvania

       Pastor, Garman Lutheran Church in Avis, Pennsylvania

I believe all sorts of people are struggling between belief and unbelief today. Some have turned their backs on organized religion, while others are barely hanging on to church membership by their fingertips. In a complex society like we live in today, we need a place where we can encounter God and make sense of the core beliefs of the Christian faith in the face of the suffering in the world, and an increasing awareness of other faith groups without turning to the rigidity of legalistic fundamentalism. Over-critical and oppressive forms of religion only encourage fear. Fear is the enemy of real faith. The real faith of the Christian is about joy and exhilaration, about dancing on the edge.

St. Luke is 50 years old. It’s makeup has traditionally been Lutherans from other places, who have moved here and then moved away after 4 or 5 years. But this is not just a congregation for transplanted Lutherans. It is a community for all people – people who are seeking, people who are solid in their faith, people who have been hurt by false or arrogant claims of the church, people who feel the need for spirituality, fellowship and community. The church is a place where those who are wounded by the pain, suffering and evil in the world are patched, treated, healed and loved.

My call and commitment is to keep proclaiming the Good News about the grace of God we know through Jesus Christ and building St. Luke’s congregation into a community which accepts and welcomes all people as they are. This is my hope, my prayer and my vision for St. Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church