Millersburg Christian Church welcomes new family life pastor with kickoff service

  • Shelly Webb
  • August 21, 2011
  • 343
                        
SUMMARY—Craig Piatt along with his wife Jenn will be joining the ministry team of Millersburg Christian Church (MCC) as the new Family Life Pastor. MCC will have a special Fall Kickoff this Sunday to welcome the Piatt’s. STORY—According to Pastor Trevor Littleton great things are happening at Millersburg Christian Church (MCC). As a result, this Sunday the church will hold a special Fall Kickoff event after services to celebrate and welcome new Family Life Pastor Craig Piatt and his wife Jenn to MCC. The Piatt’s have three young children, Aiden (6), Elijah (4) and Evelyn (1). Although the family has resided in Indiana for the past seven years, they are returning home to Ohio. Craig was raised in West Salem, Ohio and graduated from Northwestern High School in 1998 while Jenn was raised in Funk, Ohio and graduated from Triway High School in 1996. Both are very excited about moving back home to Northeast Ohio and ministering to the teens and young families of Millersburg Christian Church and the surrounding communities. “God is really moving in the hearts of the leaders and people of MCC,” Piatt shared. “He is going to do some great things through them and we are excited to be part of a growing, young church and community.” Youth and family ministry is nothing new for Piatt as he has been involved in this area for most of his life. “I was heavily involved in youth group at my home church, Parkview Christian Church in Wooster, Ohio,” he said. “I had a youth minister, whose name is Jim Frech, who was very influential in my life. I thought it was really neat that he got paid to hang out and eat pizza with teenagers like me! Someone once told me, "Youth ministry is more than just eating pizza and playing games with teens." Now that I've been in full-time ministry for over seven years I've realized that ministry is not just that. Ministry is about being with people and building relationships with them and mentoring them and nurturing them to grow in their relationship with Christ. That's what Jim did with me. He took me under his wing and he mentored me.” Piatt gives much credit to his former youth minister, Jim Frech and said that Jim was one of the first people he shared his own call to ministry with when the time came. “Because of Jim’s ministry to me, God started tugging on my own heart about going into youth ministry,” Piatt explained. “It was in a row boat, in the middle of the lake at Round Lake Christian Assembly, during a week of camp that I said to Jim, "You know, I think I'm going to give this youth ministry thing a try." And then later that summer, at a Christ In Youth Conference in Michigan, I publicly made the commitment to dedicate my life to full-time Christian service.” After graduation Piatt was accepted to the Cincinnati Christian University however had to wait quite a while to enroll due to a lack of funds. “I sat out the first semester and worked full-time, trying to raise money to attend,” he said. “But then one semester of waiting turned into two years! During those two years, I took a college class at a community college, picked up a second job, and worked with the junior high youth group at my home church. After two long years, I had saved enough money to attend. And so in 2000, I packed up and moved into the dorms of Cincinnati Christian University. I look back at those two years and they were very challenging and yet, God taught me a lot during that time. I realized that not everything is in our time; it's in God's time. I also learned to stop worrying about things and to rely on God.” Piatt graduated with his Bachelor of Science in General Ministry in 2004. He has served on several ministry projects and in various positions. In his most recent experience he served the past seven years as a student minister at Monrovia Christian Church in Monrovia, Indiana. He also coached football in Monrovia for the Monrovia Middle School for four years and served as an assistant varsity football coach at the Monrovia High School for two and a half years. Piatt has a passionate vision for Millersburg and MCC and says he and his wife are looking forward to meeting many new people. “My vision is to reach, teach, mentor, serve, and love the teens and young families of Millersburg Christian Church and the surrounding community by sharing, showing, and living the love of Christ with them,” Piatt said. “My wife, Jenn, is an important part of my ministry! She is not only my wife, but she is also my biggest supporter and partner in ministry and she will be coming along side of me and helping in any way she can.” Families are an important part of life and Piatt realizes the struggles and challenges most families face today. He wants to minister to families and be there to support them. “The world is a very broken place and we only need to look at family dynamics to see that,” he added. “Families are broken due to abuse, death of a parent, divorce, drugs and alcohol and so forth. Families are trying to find satisfaction and fulfillment through so many things, sports, school extra-curricula’s, jobs, and other things, instead of looking to the church. In fact, a lot of those things are taking the place of God in their lives. I believe the church has a responsibility to be a place where families can come to learn and experience the love of Christ. The church has a responsibility to be there to support families and come along side of them and teach them, serve them, love them and be available. The church also has a responsibility to reach out beyond its walls and to reach out into the community. The community needs to know that it can lean on the church in good and bad times." If you would like to meet the Piatt’s and enjoy a great time on Sunday of morning worship followed by Fall Kickoff activities, please feel free to visit the MCC church located at 125 North Clay Street. Worship begins at 10:00 AM and the kickoff will follow. The church will be adding an additional service beginning September 4, 2011 to accommodate the growth they are currently experiencing. New service times starting in September will be as follows: Sunday Worship Services at 8:15 AM and 10:30 AM with Sunday school being offered at 9:30 AM.


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