Assistant Pastor,
Mike Shirey

Secondary Title

What are your passions in life? Mine are, in order of importance, loving and learning about Jesus, loving and being with Marje, my wife of 30+ years, loving and supporting my two adult children, and collecting and writing with fountain pens. My favorite activity is holding hands with Marje while we take a long walk through our neighborhood and get to know our neighbors. My wife, daughter, and I moved to the West Valley a little more than a year ago from Central Illinois. We love everything about the area, especially the weather!

 

Education and Ministry Experience:


I began life as a Roman Catholic and sensed a call to ministry in my late teens. I attended Borromeo College Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio where I earned a BA in Classical Latin and Greek. My journey took me away from the Catholic fold and into the Presbyterian tradition after I met and married my wife during a leave of absence from studying for the priesthood. I earned a Master of Divinity from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville Kentucky in 1991. My early career was in small rural churches in the Midwest. I served as a solo pastor in southwest Indiana and southcentral Ohio for a total of nine years before moving to Peoria, Illinois where I accepted a position as the Associate Pastor for Community Building and Small Group Development (Impressive, right?) I did a little of everything during the seventeen years I served there, mostly focused on caring ministries and adult education.

 

These days I work part-time for CPC, overseeing the Deacons, Prayer, and Stephen Ministries while doing most of the cooking at home and reading everything I can get my hands on about the first two or three generations of Jesus-followers. I love a good debate and am always ready to entertain questions about Jesus, Christianity, and religion in general. Buy me a cup of coffee and ask me anything!