Connect

Having grown up in Potter County, rural PA holds a special place in Pastor Joe's heart. Joe fell in love with Jesus during his junior and senior year of high school as he began searching for meaning and answers after the sudden traumatic loss of two classmates to suicide. His wife, Amy, who grew up in Lancaster, PA, first met Jesus as Savior at the age of 2, during a VBS at the church where her grandfather pastored. Joe and Amy met during their undergraduate studies at Mansfield University. It was during this that the Lord not only brought them together but began preparing them for pastoral ministry, as they started a church plant on campus. 

Joe and Amy were married in 2008 and settled down in Coudersport, PA where they found a home at Coudersport Alliance Church. During the 9 amazing years of ministry at Coudersport, the Lord refined their calling, trained them up and sent them out. It was also during this time that they were blessed with their two daughters, Elizabeth (12) and Bailey (10).  They spent six years ministering in Erie, PA at FlightPath Fellowship.   In September of 2023, the Lord brought them back to rural ministry here at Karthaus. The Gerharts are passionate about seeing people come into a saving relationship with Jesus and helping others walk or run into the deeper life with Christ. 

You will often find the Gerharts spending time with their family, hunting, beagling, kayaking, camping, fishing, hiking, or playing music. The Gerharts sometimes contemplate homesteading as Amy really wants ducks, Elizabeth really wants pigs, Bailey really wants a horse, and Joe just wants to drive a tractor and can his deer meat.