Connie Hoeke graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1994 and has been an Ordained Elder in the Western PA Annual Conference since June 1998. She became a Retired Elder on November 1, 2022. Currently, she is serving a part-time appointment at Franklin First UMC in Franklin, PA. For the past 10 years, she served as an Assistant Pastor, with her husband as lead pastor, at Summit UMC in Erie, PA. She was co-leader of Stephen Ministry; Adult Discipleship Coordinator; participated in worship leadership including preaching, consecrating communion, baptisms, weddings and funerals; led spiritual formation and spiritual practices classes; and led a Women’s Spirituality Retreat every year for 6 years. She also co-led a retreat for administrative assistants in 2022, leading sessions on grief and prayer. Connie completed the Academy of Spiritual Formation in 2019 and graduated from a two-year program for Spiritual Direction in 2022, and now sees clients as a Spiritual Director. She previously served as chairperson of the WPAUMC Conference Discipleship Committee, and currently leads a speaker series on Spiritual Formation.