My name is Dave McClellan and I'm the pastor. My wife Karen and I believe God prepared us for this big challenge and, 90% of the time anyway, we love the job! After growing up in small churches (as a pastor's kid), being on staff at The Chapel in Akron for 9 years, and then at our parent church; Riverwood for 4, I've been able to gain a really broad band of experience in church life. 

I grew up in the Seattle area (before coffee was big), went to college at Grace College (B.A. Speech Communications) and Denver Seminary (M.Div). I recently completed a doctoral program at Duquesne University in Rhetoric and Communication. Communication fascinates me, and I love to see it done creatively. I've been married to Karen for 25 years and we have two kids, Kelsey (21), and Kyle (18).

I love preaching and teaching, Jeeps, backpacking, working around the house, and most everything outdoors.  You can e-mail me at dmcclellan@tinkerscreek.com

It's a huge privilege to be part of the ministry team at Tinker’s Creek.  I love what this church stands for and look forward to learning from all of Pastor Dave’s experience.  I didn’t open the doors with the church in September of 2004, but have a pretty good connection with the church anyway.  Pastor Dave was Jamie’s (my wife) youth pastor at The Chapel and he was the pastor that performed our wedding ceremony.  I’ve been working with the youth since March of 2005.

I grew up in beautiful Greeley, Colorado and got my bachelor’s degree in Youth Ministry deep in downtown Chicago at Moody Bible Institute. (talk about a scenery change)  When people ask why I didn’t move back to colorful Colorado when I graduated I always tell them the truth.  I moved here for love.  My wife grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, and we spend almost every Sunday night at her parents. 

We bought a house in Streetsboro a few years ago, and are really enjoying putting some color on the walls, after renting and living in dorms for so long.  Our daughter Eden was born in 2008.  She's a sweet little girl full of life and energy and we're loving being parents.

Heather Gawne leads our 9 am  Children's Ministry that we call Tinkertown.  Laurie Kidwell coordinates our Children's Church ministry which runs from approximately 11am to 11:45.  We keep all our kids from pre-school through 3rd grade in the service with us for the first half hour of worship and Children's Sermon. Then the kids are dismissed out to Children's Church.

Both Heather and Laurie work hard to make a learning environment that is interactive, Biblically-based, coordinated, and fun!  We believe that theology matters even in Children's Ministry, so we're careful not to just teach the latest trends.  We try to evaluate our curriculum carefully to keep God at the center and ourselves and our needs at the edges.   

Monica Strohm is our church secretary operating both out of her home and the church.  Besides handling phones and adminstrative tasks, Monica takes care of a hundred details to keep us on track.

Andy Dolson is our part-time worship leader.  Andy has a gift for getting out of the way of the music and pointing us toward God.  He leads a team of about 10 volunteers who sing and play together.  Besides his guitar, Andy enjoys video production, photography, and basically all art forms.