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.
