Our Staff
Rev. Kevin WendorfÂ
Rev. Kevin Wendorf was born December 10, 1971 to Roger and Erna Wendorf. He was raised with his two brothers in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. He received his B.A degree at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 1994. After college, Pastor Wendorf worked at the Minnesota Department of Corrections as a counselor, working with delinquent youth in Red Wing, Minnesota from 1994 to 2000. He was accepted to the Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 2001.Â
After completing his Master of Divinity in the spring of 2005, Pastor Wendorf’s first call was to St. John’s Lutheran Church – Ash Grove in Onarga, Illinois where he served from 2005 to 2014. His second call was to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Havana where he served from 2014 to 2019. He was called to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Chatham, Illinois on January 12, 2020 and has been here ever since.
He is married to Barbara (Torbeck) Wendorf. Pastor and Barbara have been blessed with three children, Matthew, Michael, and Elizabeth. Pastor and Barbara enjoy walking, riding bikes, reading, and watching classic films.
Rev. Mark Miller
The Reverend Mark Allan Miller was born on November 2, 1955, in Oak Park, Illinois, to Robert Livingston and Harriet Joyce (nee Hyman) Miller. He is the eldest of three children, a brother David and a sister Joy.
He began preparation for the Lutheran ministry at Concordia College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin receiving an A. A. in 1975. He also attended Concordia Senior College (Ft. Wayne, IN) and Concordia College in Ann Arbor, Michigan from which he received his B. A. in Religious Studies (minor in philosophy) in 1979. He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana with a Master of Divinity degree on March 4, 1983. He vicared at Our Savior, Crookston, MN and First English, Eldred, MN from 1981-1982.
He was ordained and installed at Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church in Laurel, Nebraska on April 10, 1983 (until 1989). From 1983-1989 he also supplied ministerial services to St. Paul Lutheran Church, Carroll, Nebraska. He served First Lutheran Church of East Grand Forks, Minnesota from 1989-1991. He served St. John Lutheran Church of Pekin, Illinois 1991-2012 having become Senior Pastor in 1994. He was elected as President of the Central Illinois District in
2012 and completed three terms in 2022. He has served as assistant pastor at St. John Lutheran Church in Chatham, Illinois since August of 2015.
On May 29, 1976, he was united in marriage to Debra Ann Howard of Waukegan, Illinois. They have been blessed by God with four children, Adam (Rebecca), Aaron (Courtney), Bethany (Nick) Canopy, and Christopher, and six grandchildren: Carter, Ethan, Cole, Brinley, Avery, and Waylon.
Preschool - Catherine Davis
Catherine Davis was born on April 22, 1983 in Illinois. She grew up in Highland, IL with her brother and parents. Catherine received her degree in Criminal Justice with an emphasis in psychology from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in December of 2005. After college Catherine worked in Peoria with disadvantaged youth in a group home. Her husband’s job relocated them to Chatham where she spent several years being a stay at home mom.
Catherine began her career at St. John’s Lutheran Church as the secretary for several years. After some time, she felt God calling her to teach and she switched over to the preschool. She began teaching St. John’s Lutheran Preschool for the 2022-2023 school year.
Catherine is married to Brent Davis. Together they have three children (Logan, Ethan, and Aurora). Brent and Catherine spend a lot of their time enjoying their kid’s activities. You can find them on the football fields, in band concerts, gymnastic meets, scouting events, and more. When they aren’t going from one activity to another, they enjoy camping, watching movies, and playing board games
Preschool - Debbie Trautmann
Debbie Trautmann was born in Springfield, Illinois. She attended Robert Morris College and Carl Sandberg. She received an Associates Degree in Applied Science.
Debbie began teaching in Carthage, Il as a teacher's assistant in 2003. She then moved to the Chatham area and started teaching at St. John's Lutheran Preschool in 2009.
Debbie is married to Mark Trautmann and they have four children: Brandon, Courtney, Caitlin, and Arial. They spend their free time being involved in their church and with their family. Debbie and Mark both love Cardinal baseball and love going to see them play at Bush Stadium.
Church Secretary-Tina McRae
Tina is originally from south central Illinois and moved to Chatham in with her husband and 2 children. She attended Community College in the Alton area.
Tina was the St. John’s preschool teacher from 2008-2018 and enjoyed her time working with children.Â
She now enjoys her work as the church secretary which began in August 2022. Some of her favorite parts of being the church secretary is getting the know the members better, helping people, working with a wonderful staff, and welcoming the preschoolers to school each day.