Pastor Jay F. Sterling

We received the following letter of greeting from Pastor Jay,
whose first day in the Clarks Mills pulpit was July 2, 2000:

To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Clarks Mills,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In a few short days, I will become the next in a long line of pastors who have served your congregation. Allow me to introduce myself and my family to you. My name is Jay F. Sterling, and I usually just go by "Jay." I am beginning my 17th year as an ordained minister in the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference, having served seven years in Creekside, Indiana County, and eight years at Eldersville, Washington County. The missing year was my last year of seminary at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D. C. I was born and raised in Oil City, Venango County, where my parents still live. I graduated from Oil City High School; the University of Pennsylvania (with a BA in history); and Wesley (Master of Divinity).

My wife Martha and I recently celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. Martha was born in the Bronx in New York City and was raised in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, where her parents still live. Martha also graduated from Penn with her degree in Physical Therapy. She went back to school and earned a nursing degree from Carlow College in Pittsburgh. She will be starting a new job at Sharon Regional Hospital the second week of July. Our oldest daughter, Sarah, will be entering the eighth grade this fall. Our middle daughter, Joanna, will be in the fifth grade. Lydia, our youngest, will celebrate her second birthday on July 11th.

My focus for my ministry is discipleship for evangelism. I believe we as Christians are called to share in our congregational life together the responsibility to disciple one another, build up one another in our faith, and train one another to become better witnesses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our world. My vision for the church is to become an academy for Christian discipleship where we come together to allow Christ to train us through worship, prayer, Bible Study, fellowship, and almost everything else we do together. We are called out of the world, called to follow Jesus Christ, called to become more like Christ, and called to take Christ back out into all the darkest corners of our community and world.

We look forward to meeting all of you and becoming part of your congregational family.

Shalom,
Jay

Send E-Mail To The Church: cmillsumc@pathway.net

Last Update: 7/9/00