Sunday Worship and Eucharist, Sunday mornings at 10 a.m.
2561 Newburg Road in Palmer Township
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Sunday School 2nd and 4th Sundays at 9:00 a.m.
Our Staff
Rev. Dan Brettell, Pastor
Our Pastor, The Rev. Dan Brettell, is a “third-career” pastor, having been a teacher and then a curriculum developer for thirty-five years before entering seminary in 2006. In his previous professional life, he taught College Prep and Advanced Placement Biology, Biochemistry, Human Anatomy and Physiology, and Life Sciences in the New Jersey Public Schools. After leaving the classroom, he worked for several large educational publishers, including Silver Burdett, Silver Burdett Ginn, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, and Houghton Mifflin as a curriculum developer for science and mathematics, an educational consultant training science and mathematics teachers throughout the United States and the Caribbean, and finally as a regional marketing director for the Northeastern United States.
In 2006, he left his position with Houghton Mifflin and began studying for ordination at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, earning a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) Degree in 2010. After serving his vicarage year at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fountain Hill (Bethlehem, PA), he was called by that congregation to be their pastor and was ordained on February 19, 2011. Following ordination, he was accepted into a program of study for a second theological degree. After several more years of study and a successful oral defense of his thesis, he was awarded a Master of Sacred Theology (ST.M.) in Church History in May of 2017.
During his ministry at St. Paul Fountain Hill, Pastor Dan co-founded CoMiT (Congregations on Mission Together), bringing together other Lutheran pastors and congregations in Bethlehem to work for common purposes. Along with other community-based projects, the congregation worked with the Fountain Hill Elementary School to create the BackPack Buddies program which provided easy-to-prepare weekend meals for the most at-risk children at the school.
In September of 2018, Pastor Dan accepted a Call to St. Paul’s Third Lutheran Church. He began his ministry with us on October 16, 2018, and has been working to strengthen existing programs and to develop new and exciting ministries and programs. The congregation and Pastor Dan have developed a close bond and are working together enthusiastically to meet the needs of Christians of all age groups. The congregation has welcomed his passion and joy in leading worship and presiding at The Eucharist. He especially loves being with the children of the congregation, welcoming them up every Sunday for a special Children's Message prior to the regular sermon. His Tuesday evening Bible Studies and the Adult Discussion Group he leads on the first Monday evening of the month have been well-received. And despite the fact that he readily admits to a deficiency in reading music, he has been convinced to sing with our Joyful Singers group and play the bells with our Joyful Ringers group (we do limit him to no more than four bells!).
Pastor Dan is a long-time resident of Palmer Township, having lived here for over thirty-five years with his wife Patti and their family. They have four adult children, three of whom live in Palmer Township with their spouses and their children, and one who lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife and two children. Pastor Dan and Patti have nine grandchildren along with an enthusiastically welcoming dog named Billy.
Our Pastor is a very active member of the Palmer community. He has coached soccer and baseball for nearly all of the thirty-plus years he has lived here. He also served as a trauma, critical care, and crisis response chaplain for the St. Luke’s University Hospital Network for sixteen years, and as a first-response chaplain with the Palmer Township Police Department for a number of years.
The congregation of St. Paul’s Third Lutheran Church and Pastor Dan would love to have you with us in the exciting and growing ministry taking place here. If you are looking for a church home, please join us for worship and spend some time getting to know us while we get to know you. Before worship, you will quite likely find Pastor Dan out in front of the church greeting members and guests as they enter for worship. After worship, you will find him down in the Fellowship Hall sitting and talking with members and visitors . . . and eating his favorite, chocolate-chip cookies.
We preach and live the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ each and every day!
Nancy Broadbent, Music Director
Nancy Broadbent has been playing the piano and organ in churches for over forty-five years. She has served as organist and choir director at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bangor, and as organist First United Evangelical Congregational Church and Mackey Memorial Baptist Church in Bangor, and St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Plainfield Township. She also served as rehearsal pianist for the choir at Moravian Hall Square. She has served as music director for the Pennsylvania Playhouse production of White Christmas in 2010, and for Beauty and the Beast Jr. and Bye Bye Birdie at the Jewish Community Center in Allentown in 2011 and has played in the pit band for productions at the Pennsylvania Playhouse, Notre Dame Summer Theater, and for the New Approach. With her husband, Fred Broadbent, she has performed at Allentown's Spotlight Cabaret and for assisted living and nursing homes where they entertain with a nightclub-style show. Mrs. Broadbent is a native of Bangor, a graduate of Lafayette College and Harvard Law School, and practices law in Easton under her professional name, Nancy Schneiderman.
Sallie Smull, Administrative Assistant
Sallie Smull has held this position for almost five years. She and her husband Lou live in Palmer Township. She has been a member of St. Paul’s III for 35 years, where she is active in the Stitchers, Altar Care, and the Social Ministry and Community Growth & Fellowship Committees. In her free time, Sallie is an avid reader and enjoys working in her flower garden.