Pastor Mike is currently Sr. Pastor at Mt. Carmel United Brethren in Christ Church in Fulks Run VA.  He has served as a youth pastor, associate pastor, interim pastor, and senior pastor at churches ranging from 35 to 200 in average Sunday attendance.

Pastor Mike is an ordained minister in the United Brethren in Christ Church (www.ub.org) Although relatively small, the denomination has the distinction of being the first one formed in the United States.  Although each denomination has its own distinctives and histories, most churches with the name Brethren in them have some sort of German heritage and are usually conservative in nature. 

Pastor Mike holds a B.S. in Bible from Lancaster Bible College.  (www.lbc.edu)  Bible colleges differ from regular Christian colleges in that they are usually more Bible intensive.  Most of LBC’s degrees are ministry related but regardless of one’s chosen major, they also major in Bible studies.  Pastor Mike majored in Christian Education. 

Pastor Mike also has an MAR from Liberty University.  (www.liberty.edu)  An MAR is a master of arts in religion.  There Pastor Mike had an emphasis in theology.  An MAR is a lot like an MDiv (Master of Divinity) without the requirement in Greek and Hebrew.  It is designed for people who hold bachelor degrees in fields outside of religion.  Pastor Mike decided that most courses in the MDiv program were redundant to ones he had already taken.  He plans to continue his education through Liberty and work towards an MRE (Master of Religious Education) however.

Pastor Mike was just married in July 2009 to his wife Merissa.  They met in 2006 while Mike was an interim pastor at her church.