LEADERSHIP
Pastor Neely Owen
Born August 23, 1951, and raised in southside Virginia, Pastor Owen has had a varied and diverse career. Starting out as a school teacher he quickly shifted into a study of the law which for almost 36 years was his bread and butter. He began his legal work in the southwestern part of the state in coal mining-related law but then went back to his hometown of Jarratt, Virginia where his father had been the town doctor. Though initially in private practice for almost eight years, he spent almost eight years as a prosecutor and then almost 21 years as an administrative law judge in office in Paducah, KY, and in Roanoke and Charlottesville, Virginia.
In 2016 he retired from service with the federal government and entered Concordia Theological Seminary at the tender age of 63 years. Older than most of his professors he found the re-introduction to academic life stimulating and invigorating. Upon completion of his classwork, he was assigned as Vicar of Faith Lutheran Church where He was ordained and called as their pastor in March of 2019.
He and his wife Martha have enjoyed their time with Faith and have loved coming back to Western, KY. They have two daughters who with their spouses are also in church work in Wisconsin and Texas. Pastor and Martha are also proud of their five grandchildren.