Pastors Pagnotta, Pakan share the pulpit at Brandon Lutheran

The only all-female pastoral team for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in South Dakota is right here in Brandon. 

Senior Pastor Elizabeth Pagnotta and Associate Pastor Aimee Pakan have been leading the congregation at Brandon Lutheran Church together since Pakan joined the pastoral staff in January 2021. 

As the only female pastor team for the ELCA in the state, Pagnotta and Pakan seem to work as a well-oiled machine together, bringing God’s word to BLC’s congregation on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, and every other day of the week. 

“I think sometimes people think that women are petty and backstabbing and competitive with each other, and that’s just not the dynamic between us at all,” Pakan said. “We’ve got each other’s back. We get along quite well and enjoy each other and serving these congregations together is really a gift.”

Pagnotta joined BLC in September 2020 after serving for 11 years at the St. John Lutheran Church in Madison. Pakan followed soon after in January 2021 after she and her husband, Joel, finished seminary in Philadelphia. 

With only four months between the two pastors joining BLC, they were both new at the same time and had to learn how to navigate that obstacle, especially in the height of the pandemic. 

“Initially, we had some really difficult decisions to make and difficult things to work through right off the bat, so we had to figure out how to be a team in an extreme environment,” Pagnotta said, referencing the struggles of the pandemic. “I think it’s been a real benefit that both of us were pretty new at the same time because we both got a fresh start to really share our vision and what we saw for ministry here.”

As a team, Pakan and Pagnotta both partake in leading the worship service, liturgy and delivering the weekly sermons. Individually, Pagnotta deals with the administrative side of the church and Pakan works with the confirmands and youth groups. 

Pagnotta is originally from Brookings and graduated from Augustana College in 2004 where she majored in music and studied the piano and organ. It was when she moved to Denver for graduate school, in hopes of being a church musician, that her mentors started suggesting she look into ministry.

“I had some good mentors in my life that were poking at me saying, ‘Have you thought about being a pastor?’ And I had thought about it, too, and considered that that might be what God was calling me to do,” she said. 

Pagnotta now lives in Brandon with her husband Nick, and their two sons, Fynn and Jack. 

Pakan has a newer start into the world of ministry, as this is her first time serving as a pastor. Before receiving a full scholarship to a seminary in Philadelphia, Pakan traveled the world as a musician. She performed concerts with her band and even had an 18-month contract with the Lutheran Church of Australia to sing at different churches, schools and street corners across the country and in New Zealand.

Pakan said she had always felt drawn to ministry but waited after years of friendly suggestions and the Lord’s Spirit urging towards being a pastor, to finally apply for seminary. Both she and her husband received full scholarships to Philadelphia’s seminary for four years, followed by a year-long internship in Denver, Colo.

“I think, ultimately, you don’t become a pastor unless you feel like God is calling you to do this,” Pakan said. “For me, God was tapping on my shoulder, persistently, both through a discernment in my soul like ‘Hey, maybe you should think about this,’ and then I couldn’t stop thinking about being a pastor.”

Constanza Hagmaier, Bishop of the South Dakota Synod, placed Pakan at Brandon Lutheran and her husband at Eastside Lutheran in Sioux Falls following their Denver assignment.

“It’s a really different role, to be a pastor,” Pakan said. “It’s one that is really beautiful, as you get to walk through the most difficult and the most joyous times in people’s lives. Being at the bedside when somebody is dying is beautiful and hard and we get to be there walking alongside people on that journey.”

As an all-female team, Pagnotta and Pakan said they have dealt with difficulties in the typically male-dominated career.

“I think every woman in a workplace deals with the stuff that every woman in a workplace deals with, you know, so we have to work a little harder to gain some respect and speak more clearly for our voices to be heard,” Pagnotta said.

Pagnotta is also only one of three female senior pastors for the ELCA in South Dakota. 

Despite any shortcomings, the pastors at BLC have been diligently working to spread God’s word and uplift the people in the Brandon community. 

“We’re coming off having two male pastors previously, so to switch completely over to two females was delightful,” said Cheryl Lundeen, president of the Women of the ELCA at Brandon Lutheran. “They play off each other really well. They both love music and do a fantastic job leading worship services. To have that support and with the youth to have that role model of a female clergy is very advantageous.”