God leads a mother of six out of abuse and homelessness into a life of stability, service, and evangelism.

Joann Hogan, a mother of six and member at Fairview, Milwaukee, Wis., has lived through more trauma than most Americans can even imagine. Yet after years of poverty, abuse, homelessness, court cases, violence, and more, Joann can see God’s hand during the trauma-filled years of her life—and knows she has been blessed.

A traumatic past

Joann was born into a family plagued by generational poverty and abuse. Her mother and father, having been abused themselves, continued the cycle within their own family. When Joann was just 12 years old, her mother left home, and the Hogan children were placed with their grandmother through Child Protective Services (CPS) in another poverty-stricken area.

In the years that followed, Joann never remained in one place for long. Often passed from relative to relative, she rarely felt safe. As a teen, Joann was sexually assaulted by her father and ultimately lacked safe, trustworthy adults in whom she could confide. Scared and struggling to cope with her trauma, Joann says, “I really had no safe place to let everything out. I was just basically dealing with all that on my own.”

So at just 15 years old, Joann tried to take her own life. Thankfully she survived, and in hindsight, she says she can see God telling her, “It’s not your time. . . . You are one of my soldiers. I’m not gonna let you go this way. But I am gonna get you through it.”

Seeds of faith

Until recently, Joann’s relationship with God had been tenuous. She says, “For a long time, I was so upset with God because I never asked to be here. I never asked for any of this. I was just thrown into a life I never asked for, and it’s not fair that they just can’t be good parents to me. It still hurts. It’s still my life.”

Soon after her attempt at suicide, Joann ran away and eventually found herself at an emergency youth shelter in Milwaukee. Her mother and father waived their parental rights, Joann was assigned a social worker, and she spent her teen years in a couple of different group homes.

While not an ideal situation for a teen, these group homes provided Joann with relative safety and stability. She was able to graduate from high school with high marks, discovered a passion for art, started going to therapy, and attended church regularly with others in the group home. Joann even began opening her Bible more and listened to sermons and gospel music before bed.

“Eventually, I was just like, God is the reason why I’m not in the place that I was,” says Joann. “He got me away from all of those people. . . . He took me away from the pain. He took me away from the very things that were hurting me, which was my family.”

A turning point

Because the path out of homelessness and poverty is anything but linear, Joann was plunged back into homelessness repeatedly throughout her adulthood. She lived with siblings, friends, boyfriends, relatives, and even in cars and on park benches. She engaged in toxic relationships with men, which often resulted in pregnancy and babies to support.

Joann’s life finally reached a breaking point in 2015, when her children were removed from her home by CPS. Shortly after, one of her brothers was murdered, and she was evicted from her rental. The next couple of years were a blur: roaming the streets, sleeping in shelters, and attending CPS court cases until her children were eventually returned.

In April 2021, hoping to find safer, more consistent housing for her family, Joann filled out an application for Section 8 rent assistance. By June, Joann’s name came to the top of the housing waiting list, and she and her children moved into a safe three-bedroom townhouse. She says, “God moved me from the negative areas. He moved me from all the gunshots at nighttime, the violence, the cursing . . . and put me in a safe environment.”

Joann and her kids are still living in the same home three years later—the longest period of safety and stability she has experienced in her adult life.

A safe place to land

When Joann received a flyer in the mail from Shining Star Christian Schools, a non-WELS school that rents Fairview’s former school space, she was immediately drawn in by the organization’s generous financial aid package. She adds, “But once I got to the school and saw how hands-on and understanding the teachers were and that there was a church included, I was like, Wow, this might be something better.”

When Joann and her children were first invited to Fairview’s church picnic, they enthusiastically showed up. Joann explains, “I just started serving food to people, helping out, taking trash away, and telling my kids to help clean up whatever we could.” Paul Steinberg, pastor at Fairview and chaplain with A City for God (see sidebar), quickly noticed Joann’s desire to get involved and began inviting her to church services and events.

Although she had been disconnected from church for years, Joann began attending worship with her children, who were soon baptized at Fairview. Joann also began taking weekly new member classes in her home with Steinberg. He says, “Joann began the ‘Meet Jesus’ classes with the goal of becoming a member and controlling her emotions and words. Every week I saw the struggle and the growth inside of her. Her soul took leaps and bounds and falls and steps, but over the weeks, a pattern of steady growth could be seen.” Joann and her oldest daughter were confirmed within a year.

Sharing Jesus with others

Now, Joann leads one of Fairview’s weekly Growth Groups, or lay-led sermon discussion groups. “As we were nearing the end of my instruction with Joann, we talked about how she could continue to grow in God’s Word through Bible study,” says Steinberg. “Joann volunteered to lead one. . . . She immediately began calling school moms and inviting them and making handouts to give out. She brought snacks every Wednesday at noon and prayed and called moms for at least three weeks before any other person came to join her in the study.”

During weekly Bible classes, Joann isn’t afraid to be open with people about her story because she knows her life experiences allow her to empathize with and encourage others. She says, “From what I feel in my heart, I know for a fact that [God] called me to be a leader. He called me to be someone who can really help bring people to him.” Steinberg adds, “She is a wonderful Bible study leader because she knows Jesus and she knows how he is everything a school mom in Milwaukee like her needs.”

Steinberg also noticed that Joann was particularly gifted in making evangelism phone calls. “She has since joined us in making phone calls to families for five hours per week and has been successful,” Steinberg explains. Joann gets to know the families she calls and even spends time praying for and with them. Some of the women she calls have been showing up to worship at Fairview.

“I’ve been through so much. I know what it’s like to actually sleep outside in the freezing cold,” says Joann. “So for God to take me from that . . . I’m just blessed. And that’s the reason why I owe him everything. And I could never give him nothing that could make him happier than my soul and my love—but I appreciate that he’s giving me the opportunity to try.”

Author: Stephanie Boeckman
Volume 112, Number 01
Issue: January 2025

Reaching families in Milwaukee

A City for God, a WELS-affiliated ministry, uses WELS chaplains to serve over five thousand students in the Milwaukee area who are enrolled in non-WELS schools. A City for God partners with Shining Star Christian Schools and Fairview, where I lead chapel each Friday and teach youth confirmation to willing fifth through eighth grade students. As an evangelism and discipleship partner with A City for God, Fairview is the central place for all eight of the organization’s chaplains to invite students and families to worship and grow in their faith.

Just 30 months ago, Fairview was considering closing or amalgamating with another WELS church. It had shrunk during COVID and then experienced another departure of members during a long pastoral vacancy. Members had reached the point where they did not think they could afford to support a full-time pastor. But the people who remained had not lost their mission zeal or hearts of love for the lost—especially the souls of the students at Shining Star, which rents Fairview’s former school area. . . . In 2023, the congregation received a boost through an enhancement grant from WELS Home Missions to grow its ministry to connect with families better. Since then, the congregation has been blessed to grow from less than 50 in worship weekly to more than 70.

Paul Steinberg