Pastor Tim Janiszewski has served as Lead Pastor since May 2007.  Tim is responsible for the overall direction and health of our church family.  In particular, he guides our vocational staff and our primary leadership board, the Session.  Tim previously has served as pastor at churches in North Carolina and Illinois, as well as working on the faculty of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deefield, Illinois.  He is a graduate of Wake Forest University (B.A.), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div.), Calvin Theological Seminary (Th.M.), and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, (Ph.D).  Tim is married to Juli, and they have four children, Jon, Christy, Jeff, and Rob.  In addition, the J's enjoy the company of a Black Lab, Connie, and a fiesty cat, Wildflower.  Having grown up in Monroeville, Pastor Tim is enjoying being surrounded by Steelers' fans once again!

Pastor Bob Maravalli is the pastor of Congregational Life Ministries here at MLUPC. Bob has been on staff for 22 years, first serving this community of faith and communities as youth pastor for over a decade. His passion has always been to bring the Kingdom of God to youth and their families.  Currently, Bob leads ministries to strengthen marriages and families and to create MLUPC into a warm, caring church.  Bob has been married to Kelli for 25 years and together they have two children---Abbie (22), who is a senior at Eastern college, and Ian (18) who leaves this July for mission work in Oxford, New Zealand for six months and then is off to college to prepare to be a youth pastor.  Bob's interests include, tennis, skiing, gardening, working out, and cooking, after formally being a professional caterer. His degress are from Washington and Jefferson College (B.A.), Princeton Theological Seminary (M. Div.), and Palmer Theological Seminary (D.Min.) 

Ben has served as Youth Director since September 2004. Ben is responsible for the direction and vision of the youth program. He leads the middle and high school youth groups (Crosstrainers and Remix), Sunday school, small groups, and summer programs. Ben has served in youth ministry for twelve years at churches in the greater Pittsburgh area including Zelienople, Aliquippa, and Wexford. He is a graduate of Geneva College, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, (B.A.) and Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge, Pennsylvania (M.A.R.). Ben is married to Melanie and they have two children, Luke and Emma. He enjoys reading, writing, blogging, movies and is a die-hard fan of all Pittsburgh sports teams (Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates). For more info:  www.benkendrew.blogspot.com

Ashley Gardner, Director of Children’s Ministries
Ashley can be reached by e-mail at agardner@mlupc.org

Ashley is a 2008 graduate of Grove City College where she received her B.S. in Elementary Education and Early Childhood Development.  She further has worked as a Children’s Ministry Intern for three years at Northway Christian Church located in the North Hills.  Her involvement included working with pre-school through fifth grade kids individually, in small groups, and in large group venues with upwards of one hundred children.  Ashley further developed a parents’ volunteer program within that ministry.  Ashley became a member of MLUPC when she was confirmed in 2001.

Marilyn has served on MLUPC staff since October 1992, first as Evangelism and Discipleship Assistant to Dr. Larry Selig, and presently as Director of Church Growth, where she oversees church outreach, visitor follow-up, membership classes, member assimilation, and the church’s prayer chain ministry.  Before joining our church staff, Marilyn was an elementary school teacher, first in Ohio and then in the Pittsburgh area.  She and her husband, Dan, are the parents of three grown children.  When time allows, Marilyn and Dan can be found biking on the Mon-Yough Trail (Acadia National Park carriage trails in October!), or visiting family members in New York, Virginia, or South Carolina

Linda has been part of the MLUPC staff since 2005.  She has a B.S. Degree in Business Management from Point Park College and before coming to MLUPC, Linda worked at Mellon Bank and as a chaplain at a long-term care community.  She began attending Pittsburgh Theological Seminary on the “Moses plan” in 1998 and will complete an M. Div. degree in March, 2008.  Her interest in valuing the wisdom and call of senior adults to discipleship is supported by the fact that with the life expectancy in the first century, Jesus would have been a senior adult (and look what He accomplished in just three years of ministry!).  Linda especially enjoys teaching, preaching, Bible study and pastoral visitation.  She and her husband, Paul, make their home in Mt. Lebanon, which they share with their two grown sons, Jeff and Scott, Dodger (dog – age 14), Martin (cat – age 2) and Stripe (turtle - ageless).

Nina joined the MLUPC staff in June 2008.  As a pastor's wife, she is no stranger to church work(!); but after many years in the corporate world, she appreciates using her administrative skills in God's service.  Nina enjoys working in a Christian atmosphere and likes hearing the pipe organ being played, seeing the children during weekday programs, and spending her day with truly great, Godly people!

Paula Iannotta joined the staff in 2004.  She first considered administration as a vocation at a Network seminar at MLUPC where she identified her spiritual gifts as administration and faith. (As the child of two engineers it is no wonder she likes to organize things, attend to details and work systematically.) She appreciates this particular job because she is exposed to God’s word all day long, gets to pray “on the job” and hum worship songs and hymns as she types! Paula has a B.S. Degree in Nutrition and worked for many years as a Registered Dietitian.  She has two children; Joe is 20 and Clare is 18.

Joyce was named the Director of Kingdom Kids Nursery School in August 2007 after teaching in the program for two years.  Serving children from 3-5 years of age with four morning classes and one afternoon class, KKNS is an active and vital ministry of MLUPC.  Joyce has a B.S. in Elementary Education from the University of Connecticut (Go Huskies!) and taught public school in Melbourne, Australia, and Connecticut, before moving on to the U.S. Attorney’s Office as a paralegal.  Married to Larry Story, with two sons, Kyle and Ryan, Joyce stays active traveling to the boys’ college lacrosse games, as well as doing volunteer work for the Pittsburgh Chapter of US Lacrosse, serving on the prison ministry team, and as a Deacon at MLUPC.