Spotlight- Accepting the Call

Originally from Coleridge, Neb., Rev. Amanda Day Hefner attended and graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC). Rev. Hefner is fluent in Spanish and specializes in bilingual ministry development. She has been active in ministry, education, and activism with immigrants and refugees in Nebraska, Illinois, New Mexico, and Texas. 

If you stop by St. John’s in Schuyler, you will easily get to know their friendly and welcoming new pastor. She is happy to share her call story and what exciting new things they are working on in their congregation. But for those who don’t have the opportunity to visit with Rev. Hefner, here is a small sample of her story. 

Growing up in a more conservative community and experiencing the loss of her mother at an early age, Rev. Hefner had never thought about going into church leadership. Though she had always enjoyed attending and singing in church, her first real connection with it came from her participation in camp at Carol Joy Holling in eighth grade. But the idea of rostered ministry for her was still too far away. 

As she entered her undergraduate years at Nebraska Wesleyan, she felt that connection to the church fading. She found herself questioning many things about her life and exploring her spirituality. It was during these years that she ended up going back to camp at Carol Joy Holling to work. Again, camp reignited that deep connection to the church for her. She discovered that even though she saw herself broken, she could use those wounds to help others. 

After college, Rev. Hefner traveled outside of the U.S. and once again was searching for a way to reconnect to her spirituality. It wasn’t until she moved back to Nebraska that she made her way back to the Lutheran church. Her move to Lincoln brought her directly to Grace Lutheran Church. In her own words, she described it as “the place where I experienced grace for the first time in a really powerful way.” It was in her experience at Grace that she felt reaffirmed in the sense that God could use and heal all of her brokenness. She learned that just because she felt broken didn’t mean she didn’t belong in the church; instead she realized that was exactly where she belonged. It was at Grace where Rev. Mike Ostrom became the first person to sow the seed of pursuing a call to church leadership. 

Once the seed was planted, the idea was one that stayed with her. And from then on, doors leading to a call to ministry continued to open for her. Others soon began to encourage the idea as well and that’s when she knew that this was where her life was headed. The process of preparing for seminary seemed to flow naturally for her. After graduating from LSTC and completing all requirements, Rev. Hefner was ordained Aug. 30, 2018, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Coleridge. 

Since accepting the call to serve as pastor of St. John’s, she has both faced challenges and exciting new opportunities. Several of the challenges are with working to develop the ministry and working with outreach in the community. She welcomes these kinds of challenges for the good of the congregation. 

In speaking with Rev. Hefner, you will quickly see that she prefers to focus on the new and exciting opportunities happening with St. John’s. She describes the congregation as being in a time of resurrection. The members are excited and ready for possible new ministries. The evangelism and social ministry committee has been involved with taking care packages to area college students and food to homebound members and the ill. They have created sunshine baskets for members of the community, where they fill baskets with necessities and gifts that are all yellow and give them to anyone needing a bit of joy in their lives. 

The congregation also rolled out a Christian education program that was greatly needed. They planned activities and service projects for their youth group. And, most exciting of all, Rev. Hefner was able to perform baptisms, which sparked interest in Sunday school and confirmation classes. These all filled Rev. Hefner with hope and joy for the future of the congregation. 

She began seeing new community members coming through the congregation with the inception of their food pantry. This led to other community groups inquiring about using the congregation space for their events and gatherings. She has worked with the church council on redevelopment and stewardship efforts, as well as on defining who they are as a congregation and how the community sees them. 

Rev. Hefner’s hope is that they will be seen in the community “as the congregation who says yes.” She also hopes to create a sense of welcome for the multicultural and multilingual populations in the area. “The idea is to bring together people around shared values … we are excited to see where things go, and they are excited to do something new and they’re open to change. It’s a fun place to be.”

To learn more about call stories visit the Nebraska Synod website.