Lu Ann Pengidore

Luann PengidoreLuAnn is from the Beaver Falls, PA (one-hour west of Pittsburgh), where she was raised in an Italian/Irish Catholic family with her sister and brother, lots of cousins, and her parents who owned a small grocery store.

As a child, she was always very interested in international cultures, languages, and missions. She began to study French and read a lot of biographies, such as Amy Carmichael and Jim Elliot. Wanting to experience a new “culture,” she attended Furman University in South Carolina (which seemed to her like a new cultural experience!) and ran cross country and played basketball. She joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and began attending Protestant churches and reading about the Church Reformers.

After Furman, she had an amazing experience studying abroad in Germany and seeing Eastern and Western Europe through Rotary International. This eye-opening experience, as well as working in Botswana, prompted her to study International Development. She worked for 7 years with the Pacific Basin in the federal government in Washington, DC and was very involved in her church’s Alpha ministry. Wanting to make a more personal impact, she transitioned into teaching English as a Second Language in her 30s and earned another Masters.

Since 2012 she has taught at the University of Pittsburgh in their English Language Institute. Since 2016 she also worked part-time at Church of the Ascension leading the International Ministry which centers on English as a Second Language classes. She left Pitt and began full-time at Ascension in August 2020, trying to grow relationships with internationals even more!

What she most enjoys about working in the International Ministry is learning about other cultures and linking internationals to resources – be it housing or employment or legal or specifically Christian resources from within our church. She also enjoys seeing people improve in their language development, exploring on field trips, having fun talking to each other, and for some, participating in Bible studies and discipleship classes. Most of all, she loves watching relationships develop among students, with their teachers, and with the church family at Ascension.