ur Senior Minister is Dr. Craig T. McClellan, who comes to us after a very successful fifteen-year
ministry in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is married to Patti, who is a hospice visiting nurse.
They are raising their three grandchildren: Ben, De'Aisha, and D.J.In calling Dr. McClellan to North
Church, we have made a long-term commitment to him and he to us. This is a mutual blessing indeed!
Craig is a native of Ohio, and received his Bachelor of Science in Education from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. As an undergraduate, he was topped for Omicron Delta Kappa, (the national men's leadership honorary), and was selected to receive the Guy Potter Benton Award (for outstanding religious leadership on campus). After college, he took his training in the social sciences and became a Management Analyst in the City Managers Office of Cincinnati. This provided him experience in the work-a-day world, and valuable management skills. But, he says he had to follow his sense of being called to the spiritual life more deeply. So, Craig returned to Miami University's graduate school to study the great religions of the world for two years. It was then that he made the decision to prepare for Christian Ministry.
Craig came East for his graduate degrees, and his initial pastorates were in New England. He received his Master of Divinity from Harvard, where he was a John Haynes Holmes Fellow, recipient of the American Bible Society Prize for Public Reading of the Scriptures, and awarded a Billings Prize for Preaching. Out of seminary, Craig held pastorates in the Boston area and in Barre, Vermont.
During his ministry at First Church in Barre, Craig was selected as the Outstanding Young Man in Vermont in 1982 by the Jaycees. While in Cincinnati, he led Fleming Road United Church through two mergers and three building expansions, including a new sanctuary. In addition, he completed his Doctorate of Ministry by commuting to Boston University.
Just before coming to us, Craig was one of three ministers selected from Ohio for a Holy Land Pilgrimage to Israel, with all expenses paid by the Knights Templars of the Masonic Order. Truly, he brings a wealth of experience and deeply lived faith to North Church. Evenmore, he truly celebrates life in the Lord!