Pastor Joan Iker serves as interim pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran in Shreveport.  She was raised by Baptist parents in Oklahoma, where her dad was her first pastor.  As a teen she was organist at Our Saviour’s Lutheran in Durant.  She was so drawn by the liturgy and deeply impressed by the story of God’s grace in the Lutheran church that she became Lutheran as a young adult.  She completed her B.S. in Ed. and M. Ed. at Southeastern Oklahoma State University with degrees in secondary mathematics and computer programming.  After a full career of public school teaching, Joan began seminary in Austin at the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest.  Her final year of seminary was completed at Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.  She interned at Trinity Lutheran in Clifton and Faith Lutheran in Meridian.  She has served as pastor in Texas at St. Olaf Lutheran in Cranfills Gap, Faith in Meridian, and Four Mile Lutheran near Canton.  She has also served the ELCA Division for Global Mission as a short-term ESL teacher in Slovakia, China, and Indonesia.  

Joan and Steve married while still in school and have made a permanent residence in rural Durant, OK.  They have three adult children and six grandchildren.  Right now her most favorite word to hear is “Mimi!”  Her most fun “job” has been working at Yellowstone National Park one summer!  She loves to travel and is almost always ready for a new adventure. 

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