Island of Faith welcomes new pastor back to Southeast

After an extended period of lay leadership, Island of Faith Lutheran Church has welcomed its new pastor, Sue Bahleda. She and her husband, Bill, arrived in Wrangell about a month ago and have settled into their new roles in the community.

"This church was looking for a pastor, I was contacted, and we did the search process together," she said. "It's called 'calling.' They called me to this church then."

Bahleda comes to Island of Faith with years of experience behind the pulpit and in Southeast Alaska. She pastored in Juneau for nine years at Resurrection Lutheran Church, she said, before moving to Portland, where she preached for four years. She then felt called to Wrangell and is happy to be back in Southeast.

"That's been kind of lovely. When I'm introducing myself to people here there's always that moment of 'How are you going to do in Southeast?' When I say I've been here, I've been in Juneau, they're like 'OK, you get Southeast."

Before taking up preaching Bahleda was an American Sign Language interpreter, but she had felt a calling to take up a leadership role in the church since she was little. For a long time, this feeling pushed her to work hard in volunteering and activism with the church, but that was not quite enough.

Eventually, she said, during a meeting at University of Alaska Anchorage, she knew that it was not where she was supposed to be. Eventually, she found her way to seminary and preaching. She attended Wartburg Theological Seminary in Iowa, where she studied to become a preacher of the Lutheran Church.

"When I was a little girl, I admired nuns," Bahleda said. "I watched movies with nuns because when I was growing up there weren't a lot of female pastors around. ... There just weren't a lot of women role models, religious role models, around. So when you feel this connection you really don't know where to put it. ... I didn't know what it exactly meant, but eventually I couldn't escape the inevitable call of God."

Bahleda will be the first "called" pastor, as she put it, Island of Faith has seen in several years. The church's previous pastor, Nancy Gradwohl, moved to Washington in 2018. The church has not been rudderless since then, however, as Bahleda explained that several congregation members took up leadership positions and held services.

"One of the fundamental values of the Lutheran Church is an educated layity," she said. "The Southeast cluster or churches, which includes Juneau, and Petersburg, and Sitka, and Wrangell, have at times gathered together to do a program called 'synodically authorized ministers.' It's a two-year program where people are trained in theology, and the practices, and the Bible and all of those things."

In particular, Bahleda pointed out congregants Shirley Wimberley and Ryan Howe as important lay leaders for the church. Wimberley has been trained as a synodically authorized minister, she said. Howe has not, but did receive approval from the bishop to lead worship.

Bahleda is half-time at the church, working three days on and four days off. She will lead the majority of Sunday services, she said.

"This is a church that is content, that is open and eager for people to come ... it's a church that's content with its place in the community and celebrates its place in the community," she said.