About Pastor Karen, our minister for the Kirkin' of the Tartans

Karen Johnson Wehrman was born, in 1950, in West Virginia where the people have the same independent, determined, (family would say, hard headed), resourceful nature as frontier people. Her father owned a farm near Roanoke, Virginia where she enjoyed being out of doors, with horses, and cattle. She also participated as she was able, depending upon her age, with the harvesting of alfalfa. She still enjoys living in the country.

Karen graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary, in Decatur, Georgia in 1982 with a Masters in Divinity degree. After two years as an Associate Pastor in Greer, South Carolina, Karen began training to become a Pastoral Counselor which included Clinical Pastoral Education as a Chaplain in hospitals and seeing clients as a psychotherapist who was glad explore the spiritual elements of a persons situation when and if the client wished. She discovered that people who had been through a twelve-step program such as AA, were much more aware of the significance of their spiritual health to their mental health than were long time church goers.

Karen graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary again in 1994 with a Doctor of Ministry Degree with emphasis in Pastoral Counseling. Anton Boison the founder of the Clinical Pastoral Education movement shortly after World War II, emphasized the value of learning from the people with whom we are privileged to be pastor. He called this learning from "living human documents." Karen would rather learn from others about their experience of life and faith then from books.

(Photo From the Church of St. Andrew (Atlanta) website)

While living in the Atlanta area, Karen was part of the congregation of the Church of St. Andrew. The Pastor Iain Ingles is from Scotland and helped develop an annual Kirkin' of the Tartans Service. The men wore kilts and women made large banners representing each Clan represented in the congregation including a Clergy Tartan Banner. During the service the banners were removed from their stands around the inside of the sanctuary and a piper (bagpipe) then led the procession to the front of the sanctuary where prayers for the families represented and others present were said.

Karen is now the pastor for the Elbert Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation in Elbert, Colorado. In 2003 she married Dick Wehrman with whom she lives happily a few miles east of Elbert. She is grateful to be living and serving in such a beautiful part of the country and in the midst of such good and flexible people.

Elbert Presbyterian Church Weekly Schedule

Colorado Historical Society restoration project