Paul R Funk

204 Ridge Ave

Derry, PA 15627

Christ U M Church
Senior Pastor

Bio
Paul Funk was born in Greensburg, PA and when he was very young the family moved to Latrobe, PA. He was educated in the Greater Latrobe School District. Upon graduation, Paul attended Davis and Elkins College, where he studied political science and history earning a B.A. In 1991 he enrolled in Seton Hill University where he studied education. He earned a continuing education degree in secondary education and was certified to teach grades 7-12 in the state of Pennsylvania. In 2006, after returning to Seton Hill for graduate work he earned an M.A. in Education with an emphasis on Special Education and was certified to teach Special Education. During this same period, he "took the bridge" being offered by Pennsylvania and was certified to teach Language Arts grades 7-12.
Currently, he is working on a Master of Divinity degree.

Paul was employed by the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit in 1995 as a substitute teacher in a maximum-security juvenile facility run by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare on the grounds of Torrance State Hospital. He was hired the following year to a full-time Social Studies position in the same facility, the now-defunct Southwest Secure Treatment Unit. In 2006, Paul bid into an elementary Autistic Support classroom, but 2008 found him back in corrections education, this time at the Westmoreland County Juvenile Detention Center. In 2018, he bid into a classroom at the Greensburg Partial Program. He retired from the WIU in 2021 to pursue an MDiv full time and to serve as a licensed local pastor.

Paul was first appointed in 2018, to the Germany United Methodist Church in New Florence, PA. He remained the pastor there until 2020. Before this entrance to ministry, Paul served as Lay Speaker, for the first time, in 2002, under the guidance of Pastor Herb Phar. At the Torrance UMC Church, where Phar served, Paul taught Sunday School, led the Youth Group, and joined the Gideons International. In 2009, Paul moved his family to the Hillside United Methodist Church where he again served as Lay Speaker and Lay Leader, and Youth Group leader under the guidance of Reverend Ray Kerr. Pastor Ray approached Paul and told him he believed he was being called to ministry. This started a chain of events where Paul joined the Reverend John Emigh at the Derry First United Methodist Church as a sort of understudy. Derry First UMC and Hillside UMC had been yoked into one charge. Paul worked with Rev. Emigh in the operations of the church and served as Lay Speaker during services. After Rev. Emigh, he worked with Rev Ron Emery in the same capacity at the same charge. It was from this position that he was licensed to preach in the United Methodist Church and appointed to the Germany charge.

Paul is divorced with two children; Jesse, 32, wife Chris, and Courtney 25, husband Luke, with grandson Eli, 1. He enjoys the outdoors: hunting, fishing, motorcycles, camping, gardening, etc. He also enjoys writing and reading books about God's call on the lives of ordinary people. Recently, he began studying and collecting religious pieces of artwork and attempting to learn guitar.