After nearly two years of serving in a Lawrence pulpit, the Rev. Emilee Whitehurst is returning to the San Francisco Bay area to accept a position in which she will be addressing issues of social justice.

Whitehurst, who has been associate pastor for university ministry and adult education at First Presbyterian Church, 2415 Clinton Parkway, will be the new faith director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, based in San Francisco.

She will work with diverse faith communities to advocate for alternatives to youth incarceration, ones that hold the offenders accountable, promote reconciliation and prevent any escalation of violence.

Her last day at First Presbyterian is Sept. 9.

The move marks a return to familiar territory for Whitehurst, both geographically and in terms of the type of professional challenges she will be facing.

Whitehurst earned a bachelor’s at Stanford University in 1994. The school is in Palo Alto, Calif., 35 miles from San Francisco.

After graduating, she founded the Justice, Education and Action Project, a multiracial, community-based service in Oakland, Calif., that organized parents of youth who were in the juvenile justice system.

“The Ella Baker Center absorbed the work I was doing (from 1994 to 1997) when I was in California, before I left to go to divinity school. The job I will be doing at the center is a continuation of the work I struggled to begin,” said Whitehurst, 31.

“I was trying to do this (job) on a budget of $40,000. This organization has a $1 million budget.”

Whitehurst, a native of Austin, Texas, graduated from the Harvard Divinity School in 2000.

But she delayed entering directly into the ministry, instead serving for a year as coordinator of the Texas Faith Network, a 400-member, statewide organization of interfaith clergy preaching a religious vision of tolerance, inclusivity and social justice.

First Presbyterian Church in Lawrence was her first home as a pastor. She preached there in the fall of 2002, leading up to her installation in December of that year.

“I cannot imagine a better place to have begun my life as a pastor. The members of FPC have been so gracious in allowing me to visit them when they were sick, perform weddings, baptisms and funerals and preach,” she said.

“It’s hard to leave. It’s amazing how deep roots can grown in two years. It’s tough, but I think people understand. We’re sad over the ending, but people are very supportive.”

One of Whitehurst’s mentors and supporters in Lawrence has been the Rev. Thad Holcombe, campus pastor of Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Drive.

“Emily’s empathetic, passionate about her concerns for the world and for people. Just one of those justice-loving women who really has a way of understanding what the issues are and articulating them. She’s a great preacher, too. I feel like I’m losing a colleague,” Holcombe said.

The Rev. Ray Fancher, interim senior pastor at First Presbyterian, worked with Whitehurst since he arrived at the church in April.

“I have cherished our work together. She is a very capable, delightful colleague. I think she’s brought a breath of fresh air to this congregation,” he said.

“Certainly her gifts in the public arena will be well used, and she will rise to the challenge in her new setting. It’s a loss for us, and yet at the same time I think that the congregation has been able to affirm her decision, even with regret and sadness.”

Whitehurst, a newcomer to Kansas when she arrived in Lawrence, seemed wistful about leaving it behind.

“I have such a lovely life here. It feels a bit like I am going back into the fray. There’s some changes in my quality of life that I’m ambivalent about, like not being able to have a house in San Francisco. But I’m excited about the work,” she said.