Staff
Lead Pastor G. Gary DeSanto
pastorgary@stillwaterchristian.com
570-925-1201
Pastor Gary received his B.A. in The Preaching Ministry from Johnson Bible College in TN and a Master of Ministry from Kentucky Christian University in KY. Gary served other local congregations including the Rohrsburg Christian Church and an 18-year ministry with the Sweet Valley Church of Christ. He has been active with Camp Epachiseca for more than 20 years and other various para-church organizations that work with the Christian Churches.
Pastor Gary also served as the Pastoral Care Minister with the Celebrate Life Christian Church in Lancaster, PA. He served outside of PA as the Senior Minister at the Celebration Christian Church in Marion, OH. Celebrate Life and Celebration were congregations newly planted within five years of his arrival.
Pastor Gary became a Christian in 1975 through an outreach program from the Stillwater Christian Church to the Bloomsburg University campus. He was ordained here at Stillwater in the spring of 1979. Although born and raised in the Pocono Mountains, Gary considers this area to be his home. His love for the area and Stillwater Christian Church is evident. Pastor Gary considers it an honor and a privilege to serve God in the Stillwater area.
Pastor Gary has a passion for people. He loves sharing Jesus with others. His passion for the lost drives him to be a part of planting new churches throughout the East. Gary presently serves on the Leadership Team for Keystone Church Planting Network. He has been active on the Leadership Teams of church-planting organizations that have planted or help re-plant at least five churches in PA and other churches in parts of the East.
Pastor Gary’s hobbies include hiking and strength training. He is known to play an occasional game of golf. He loves to eat and is always up to the challenge of eating. Gary also enjoys a good cup of coffee and loves Starbucks first but also will visit Dunkin Donuts.
Pastor Gary and His Family
Pastor Gary and Judy have known each other since the 4th grade. They were high-school sweethearts who were married in May of 1977. Judy is a Speech Therapist whose specialty is working with extremely challenged children. They are blessed with three adult children: David, Allison and Rachel. David along with his lovely wife, Liz, live in Lancaster, PA. David is a Senior Network Security Engineer for a major international company located Central PA. Allison and Rachel presently live in OH but may be moving with the family in the summer of 2010. Allison and Rachel are Shift-Supervisors for Starbucks. Allison is in a graduate program and Rachel is in an under-graduate program at The Ohio State University. Gary and Judy are presently relocating from OH to PA. They are looking forward to the family being located in PA as soon as possible.
Associate Pastor Scott Lyons
pastorscott@stillwaterchristian.com
570-925-1204
Pastor Scott Lyons received his BS Degree in Early Childhood Education from and Bloomsburg University and a Master of Ministry from Kentucky Christian College. He taught fifth grade for the Pocono Mountain School District before becoming the Associate Minister at Sweet Valley Church of Christ in 1998. He and his family then moved to minister with Cross View Christian Church in Waynesville, Ohio.
Scott enjoys visiting the ill and homebound and can occasionally be found substitute preaching.
He also has a passion to assist people in finding their place to perform kingdom work through volunteering.
Scott and His Family
Scott, began working with us April 1, 2003. Scott was raised in Rohrsburg, PA. He and his wife Julie have two sons, Grant and Zachary.
Youth & Outreach Pastor Mike Delp
pastormike@stillwaterchristian.com
570-925-1205
Mike is a graduate of Johnson University where he earned a B.S in counseling / bible.
He was ordained into the ministry at Christ's Church at Northside, Roanoke, Va. in 2001.
Upon graduation, he and his family moved to Phnom Penh, Cambodia where he taught at a Ministry Training Center, training national pastors and evangelists. He has also mobilized and lead teams to Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, India and Cambodia.
Mike is a member of Stillwater Christian Church where he has been the fulltime Youth/Outreach Pastor since 2004. The ministry has seen 10 of their graduates go for further training in Christian ministry. He is excited about where God is leading the young people of “Restoration Student Ministries”. When not at Stillwater Christian Church, you can find Mike speaking at rallies, camps, overnighters, etc.
Mike has also been an integral part in establishing Columbia/Montour Youth Network, a network of 15 youth ministries (as of Sept.2011) who come together for fellowship and partnership in proclaiming Christ to the community and church. It stands as a model of unity to the churches throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania.
He loves his family, teenagers, fishing and shooting things.
Mike and his family
Mike is married to his wonderful wife Sarah, who is the Worship leader at Stillwater and have 4 beautiful children Lydia, Isaac, Micah and Naomi.
570-925-1207
Jeff was introduced to Jesus early in life but never really wrestled with the gospel until 1998 while attending Penn State University. In 2002 while attending Stillwater Christian Church, Jeff diligently began to search the scriptures out and as a result believed in the biblical testimony of Jesus Christ and was baptized on April 28, 2002.
Jeff graduated from Penn State in 2001 with a BS in Professional Golf Management; he also graduated from Johnson Bible College in 2007 with an MA in Marriage & Family Therapy/Professional Counseling.
Upon graduation from Johnson, Jeff and his family moved to Hagerstown, Indiana where he served as a Christian Counselor at Wernle, a residential treatment facility for boys ages 6-21. In 2009 he became the Family & Youth Minister at New Testament Church of Christ (Hagerstown, IN) in a part-time capacity while continuing as a full-time counselor. In 2010 Jeff’s roles switched and he became a full-time minister and part-time counselor.
Jeff is passionate about moving people from being mere believers in Christ to becoming fully committed followers. He believes that an essential way to ignite a passion for Jesus in future generations is to win the hearts of all people, but especially dads and husbands, who then in turn become the primary vehicle for disciple building.
Jeff’s tank is refueled by spending time with his family, enjoying the outdoors in any number of ways, and resting.
Jeff was born and raised in Sweet Valley and his wife Lindsay hails from Stillwater; together they and their 5 children are excited to be a part of Stillwater Christian Church and the surrounding community.
Jeff and Lindsay’s life passage is Deuteronomy 6:5-7.
Jeff and his family
|
||||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
9(14*Off)11(2*2)&utmwv=1&utmn=7609217896&utmsr=-&utmsc=-&utmul=-&utmje=0&utmfl=-&utmdt=-&utmhn=stillwaterchristian.com&utmr=&utmp=/noscript&utmac=UA-27114567-1&utmcc=__utma%3D93753086.2001984275.1369458654.1369458654.1369458654.2%3B%2B__utmb%3D93753086%3B%2B__utmc%3D93753086%3B%2B__utmz%3D93753086.1369458654.2.2.utmccn%3D(direct)%7Cutmcsr%3D(direct)%7Cutmcmd%3D(none)%3B%2B__utmv%3D93753086%3B)