Pastors and Staff
The Rev. Ron Feltman, Senior Pastor
ron.feltman@epiphanyelmhurst.org
Pastor Ron Feltman became senior pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church in August 2012 after having served as part-time associate pastor since 2006. Pastor Feltman is head of staff and has primary responsibility for worship and music, pastoral care, stewardship, First Bible/First Communion classes, and congregational leadership.
Pastor Feltman was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. He is an avid Gamecock, having graduated from the University of South Carolina. He received a Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia.
Between 1986 and 2003, Pastor Feltman served congregations in Elloree, Columbia, West Columbia, and Irmo, all in South Carolina. In 2003, after 17 years of parish ministry in South Carolina, Pastor Feltman answered the call to the full-time ministry of stewardship by becoming a financial associate for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. He also worked as a recruiter, trainer, and compliance officer for Thrivent Financial. He was pleased to go back to his first vocational love—parish ministry—full time in 2012.
His particular passion in ministry is leading worship, preaching, and teaching. He also loves helping others become more generous disciples and discovering the ways in which faith can be a part of their everyday life. What he loves most about Epiphany is that it is a congregation with a big mission but the heart and personality of a small church.
His greatest joys in life are his wife, Heather, his son and daughter-in-law, Seth (a mutual fund manager) and Anna (a hospice nurse) Lancaster, his beautiful grandchildren, Grant and Zoey, and his beagle, Geoffrey. Heather is an ELCA diaconal minister who serves as the Director of Church Operations at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. Charles, IL. In his free time, Pastor Feltman enjoys napping with Geoffrey, building things with Grant, singing with Zoey, photography, playing golf, and playing the tenor guitar.
Pastor Feltman was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. He is an avid Gamecock, having graduated from the University of South Carolina. He received a Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia.
Between 1986 and 2003, Pastor Feltman served congregations in Elloree, Columbia, West Columbia, and Irmo, all in South Carolina. In 2003, after 17 years of parish ministry in South Carolina, Pastor Feltman answered the call to the full-time ministry of stewardship by becoming a financial associate for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. He also worked as a recruiter, trainer, and compliance officer for Thrivent Financial. He was pleased to go back to his first vocational love—parish ministry—full time in 2012.
His particular passion in ministry is leading worship, preaching, and teaching. He also loves helping others become more generous disciples and discovering the ways in which faith can be a part of their everyday life. What he loves most about Epiphany is that it is a congregation with a big mission but the heart and personality of a small church.
His greatest joys in life are his wife, Heather, his son and daughter-in-law, Seth (a mutual fund manager) and Anna (a hospice nurse) Lancaster, his beautiful grandchildren, Grant and Zoey, and his beagle, Geoffrey. Heather is an ELCA diaconal minister who serves as the Director of Church Operations at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. Charles, IL. In his free time, Pastor Feltman enjoys napping with Geoffrey, building things with Grant, singing with Zoey, photography, playing golf, and playing the tenor guitar.
The Rev. Anna E. Roper, Associate Pastor
anna.ernst@epiphanyelmhurst.org
Pastor Anna Roper came to Epiphany in August 2017. Her main program areas of focus are children, youth and family ministry (including the coordination of baptisms and Sunday School), community outreach and engagement, and welcome and communications.
Pastor Anna grew up in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, more specifically in Chevy Chase, MD, a town not named after the actor. Pastor Anna is a proud public school graduate, and is grateful to the Spanish immersion program at Rock Creek Forest Elementary School for pretty much all of her career development possibilities, since she is a fluent Spanish speaker as a result. She is also grateful to her grandfather, the late Rev. J. Gordon Swanson, and Saint Luke Lutheran Church in Silver Spring, MD, for her faith formation.
Pastor Anna graduated from Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH in 2010, and from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago with her Master of Divinity degree in May 2017. Before beginning seminary, Pastor Anna completed a year of service as a member of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, serving at Grace and St. Luke’s Lutheran Churches in Omaha, NE as their Community Outreach Associate. She also worked as a social services case manager with Housing Initiative Partnership, a non-profit affordable housing developer and homeownership counseling agency based in Hyattsville, MD. Pastor Anna completed a year of internship at Calvary Lutheran Church in the suburbs of Ft. Worth, TX, and has also worked as a hospital chaplain at Mt. Sinai and Holy Cross Hospitals in Chicago.
Pastor Anna’s ministry passions include inspiring others to live out their faith in word and action throughout their lives, particularly through congregation-community partnerships, relationship-building, and mutual engagement, and through creating welcoming, authentic, inclusive Christian community. She is also thrilled to be spending a lot of time hanging out with Epiphany’s wonderful youth, learning with them about how God is present with them throughout their lives.
In her free time, Pastor Anna loves listening to and playing all kinds of music, and when she is not in the office you can often find her driving all over Chicagoland and having a private dance party in her car. She spent much of her childhood playing violin and still plays as she is able. Pastor Anna also enjoys hiking, running, various arts and crafts projects, and getting out and about in the museums and wonderful cultural districts of Chicagoland. Pastor Anna married Jim Roper on June 11, 2022.
Pastor Anna grew up in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, more specifically in Chevy Chase, MD, a town not named after the actor. Pastor Anna is a proud public school graduate, and is grateful to the Spanish immersion program at Rock Creek Forest Elementary School for pretty much all of her career development possibilities, since she is a fluent Spanish speaker as a result. She is also grateful to her grandfather, the late Rev. J. Gordon Swanson, and Saint Luke Lutheran Church in Silver Spring, MD, for her faith formation.
Pastor Anna graduated from Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH in 2010, and from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago with her Master of Divinity degree in May 2017. Before beginning seminary, Pastor Anna completed a year of service as a member of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, serving at Grace and St. Luke’s Lutheran Churches in Omaha, NE as their Community Outreach Associate. She also worked as a social services case manager with Housing Initiative Partnership, a non-profit affordable housing developer and homeownership counseling agency based in Hyattsville, MD. Pastor Anna completed a year of internship at Calvary Lutheran Church in the suburbs of Ft. Worth, TX, and has also worked as a hospital chaplain at Mt. Sinai and Holy Cross Hospitals in Chicago.
Pastor Anna’s ministry passions include inspiring others to live out their faith in word and action throughout their lives, particularly through congregation-community partnerships, relationship-building, and mutual engagement, and through creating welcoming, authentic, inclusive Christian community. She is also thrilled to be spending a lot of time hanging out with Epiphany’s wonderful youth, learning with them about how God is present with them throughout their lives.
In her free time, Pastor Anna loves listening to and playing all kinds of music, and when she is not in the office you can often find her driving all over Chicagoland and having a private dance party in her car. She spent much of her childhood playing violin and still plays as she is able. Pastor Anna also enjoys hiking, running, various arts and crafts projects, and getting out and about in the museums and wonderful cultural districts of Chicagoland. Pastor Anna married Jim Roper on June 11, 2022.
Joan Halvey, Office Administrator
joan.halvey@epiphanyelmhurst.org
Joan joined the Epiphany staff full-time in October 2019. She resides in North Riverside with her husband and best friend, Paul. They have two young adult daughters, Bridget and Kellie. To keep the house from being too quiet, they also have a dog, Juliet.
Prior to joining the Epiphany staff, Joan had a long career as a preschool teacher/director designee. Joan was a stay at home mom following a career in marketing/marketing research. In her spare time, Joan can be found listening to K-love music or making music with Paul and their friends.
Joan feels blessed to be part of the Epiphany family!
Prior to joining the Epiphany staff, Joan had a long career as a preschool teacher/director designee. Joan was a stay at home mom following a career in marketing/marketing research. In her spare time, Joan can be found listening to K-love music or making music with Paul and their friends.
Joan feels blessed to be part of the Epiphany family!
Clay Corso, Director of Music
clay.corso@epiphanyelmhurst.org
Clay Corso has played piano since the age of six, and has a diverse musical background. He is a 2019 graduate of the Elmhurst University music program. During his time as a student, Clay studied classical and jazz piano while performing in many ensembles. He has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, and Jazz á Vienne as a member of the Elmhurst University Jazz Band. He was a winner of Elmhurst University’s Concerto Competition in 2017, and was a winner of the NAfME Honors Recital in 2016. As a professional musician, Clay has performed at the Jazz Showcase, Winter’s Jazz Club, Fulton Street Collective, and more. He has also published educational articles for DownBeat Magazine and Chicago Jazz Magazine. Currently, Clay maintains a teaching studio of students of all interests and ability levels. In his free time, Clay enjoys tennis, going to concerts, and spending time with his family.
Paul Halvey, Custodian
paul.halvey@epiphanyelmhurst.org
Paul Halvey serves Epiphany as custodian working weekdays. Previously he assisted with building maintenance on Saturdays. Paul is the husband of our Office Administrator, Joan Halvey. He recently retired from a position at a bank online support center and has also worked in programming and editorial roles.
Paul says, “It is a blessing to be here at Epiphany and a joy to help maintain the beautiful renovation of the building.”
Paul says, “It is a blessing to be here at Epiphany and a joy to help maintain the beautiful renovation of the building.”
Geoffrey, Church Dog
Geoffrey Feltman, a miniature beagle, was born in Earlville, Illinois, in March 2017. He lives next door to the church with his mommy and daddy, Pastor Ron Feltman and Deacon Heather Feltman.
While Geoffrey doesn’t have regular office hours, he can usually be found in the church office when Pastor Ron is there. He especially enjoys coming to church on Sundays, where he helps Pastor Ron unlock the church, cleans up cookie crumbs left on the floor, and greets worshippers as they arrive. He especially enjoys playing with the children, giving kisses to anyone who gets close enough to get one, and begging for belly rubs.
While he loves everyone, he is particularly fond of Joan Halvey, our office administrator. We suspect that is because she gives him treats when he arrives every morning. Joan is closely followed by Paul Halvey, who gives the best belly rubs, and Clay Corso and Pastor Anna, who let him sniff around in their offices. Geoffrey would like to sing in the choir, but in his audition with Clay, he could only manage one note. He also lacks thumbs to hold his music. Clay does let him hang with the praise band during rehearsals, because, he says, every band needs a hound dog.
While Geoffrey doesn’t have regular office hours, he can usually be found in the church office when Pastor Ron is there. He especially enjoys coming to church on Sundays, where he helps Pastor Ron unlock the church, cleans up cookie crumbs left on the floor, and greets worshippers as they arrive. He especially enjoys playing with the children, giving kisses to anyone who gets close enough to get one, and begging for belly rubs.
While he loves everyone, he is particularly fond of Joan Halvey, our office administrator. We suspect that is because she gives him treats when he arrives every morning. Joan is closely followed by Paul Halvey, who gives the best belly rubs, and Clay Corso and Pastor Anna, who let him sniff around in their offices. Geoffrey would like to sing in the choir, but in his audition with Clay, he could only manage one note. He also lacks thumbs to hold his music. Clay does let him hang with the praise band during rehearsals, because, he says, every band needs a hound dog.
