Bios
Pastor Emerson Coy
Chaplain Jill Lemke
Chaplain Jill Lemke
Pastor Coy is a retired minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) but very active in pulpit supply and pastoral services in the Northwoods to UCC, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches. He has been supply preaching part time and ministering with the First Congregational United Christian Church in Park Falls for many years. He i
Pastor Coy is a retired minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) but very active in pulpit supply and pastoral services in the Northwoods to UCC, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches. He has been supply preaching part time and ministering with the First Congregational United Christian Church in Park Falls for many years. He is also employed full time as the Director of Planning & Development for the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians for the past 34 years. He is married to his wife Julie of 45 years and has two grown children, six grandchildren and one great granddaughter.
Pastor Coy is originally from Canfield, Ohio and first moved to Wisconsin in 1972. Pastor Coy attended Youngstown State University with a degree in Business Administration. Attended Lexington Theological Seminary and Ashland Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity. He was ordained in 1985. He has served student churches in Kentucky, a two-point parish in Northwest Ohio for 10 years, interned at a counseling center and also was a staff member of Fulton Co. Hospital, Ohio, as a Psych Tech. and a part-time youth director for the Minocqua United Methodist Church of the Pines.
He enjoys being with his family, spoiling grandchildren, singing, fishing, cutting wood, enjoying our natural beautiful surroundings, and the ministry and congregation of the Park Falls church.
Chaplain Jill Lemke
Chaplain Jill Lemke
Chaplain Jill Lemke
Not all who wander are lost!
When I first felt called to attend seminary, I joked that it was my third career. I worked for a corporation in Chicago for 11 years; then an owner of three retail shops in Sayner, Wisconsin for 24 years when, like Abraham, I “was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he se
Not all who wander are lost!
When I first felt called to attend seminary, I joked that it was my third career. I worked for a corporation in Chicago for 11 years; then an owner of three retail shops in Sayner, Wisconsin for 24 years when, like Abraham, I “was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out not knowing where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8
I completed a two-year course in Lay School for Mission through the Evangelical Lutheran Church. After which I again felt called to attend Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, through an accelerated program of Theological Education for Emerging Ministries (TEEM). One semester of Clinical Pastoral Education was required as part of this program. However, when I saw a fork in the road, I took it! I was so captivated by chaplaincy that I completed the two-year program and worked for ten years as a chaplain for Howard Young Medical Center and One Penny Place Senior Living in Woodruff, Wisconsin.
In this third career I have conducted baptisms, renewal of wedding vows, funerals, memorial services, celebrations of life, graveside services, Bible studies, preaching and leading worship, communion, and provided comfort and presence to the sick and dying and their families, serving people with or without faith. In addition, I have coordinated Summer Campground Services for two campgrounds through Calvary Lutheran Church, Minocqua, for the past 12 years and have been a GriefShare (Bible based grief recovery program) facilitator through Holy Family Catholic Church for the past 8 years.
Personal passions are creating greeting cards through rubber art stamping and biking and running for exercise.
My faith, education, and life experiences all inform who I am led to be as a servant of Christ. The Lord knows I have wandered, but I have no doubt the Lord has been my guide and I am not lost! As Susan Boyle sang in the song, “Who I Was Born To Be”:
Though I may not know the answers
I can finally say I'm free
And if the questions led me here, then
I am who I was born to be
May it be so!
Virtual Support
Chaplain Jill Lemke
Virtual Support
At First Congregational United Church of Christ, we believe in taking our faith beyond the walls of our church and into the world. We are fortunate to also be working with Amanda Edwards, CJ Dates, and others. While they'd like to be here in person, we are grateful that they are just a phone or Zoom call away.