
Rev. Dr. Derek Marotta, Pastor
Following God’s call, Rev. Dr. Derek Marotta came to Plains Presbyterian Church in February 2014. He, his wife Jennifer, and their children JonMark and Emma are excited to be serving God in the Cranberry Township area and are excited to call Western Pennsylvania home.
Rev. Marotta graduated from Ashland Theological Seminary in 2001 with a Masters in Arts in Christian Education. Then, in 2006 he completed his M.Div at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Soon after graduation, he was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the PC(USA) and began ordained ministry serving a yoked parish in Eastern Ohio.
Then in 2020, sensing the ever-changing landscape of life and ministry, Rev. Marotta returned to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and completed a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Missional Leadership. In his Doctoral Thesis, entitled, “Being With”: Equipping Missional Church Leaders through Neighborhood Listening, Rev. Marotta presented the idea that as God is already active and present in the local context. Through story-sharing the local congregation and their host community can develop a deeper relationship that is based on God’s already present nature and self. He believes that evangelism is not a one-way conversation, as it was traditionally taught, but instead it is a discipline that the church can enter into faithfully through “Being With” the people of the local context.
Following God’s call, Rev. Dr. Derek Marotta came to Plains Presbyterian Church in February 2014. He, his wife Jennifer, and their children JonMark and Emma are excited to be serving God in the Cranberry Township area and are excited to call Western Pennsylvania home.
Rev. Marotta graduated from Ashland Theological Seminary in 2001 with a Masters in Arts in Christian Education. Then, in 2006 he completed his M.Div at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Soon after graduation, he was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the PC(USA) and began ordained ministry serving a yoked parish in Eastern Ohio.
Then in 2020, sensing the ever-changing landscape of life and ministry, Rev. Marotta returned to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and completed a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Missional Leadership. In his Doctoral Thesis, entitled, “Being With”: Equipping Missional Church Leaders through Neighborhood Listening, Rev. Marotta presented the idea that as God is already active and present in the local context. Through story-sharing the local congregation and their host community can develop a deeper relationship that is based on God’s already present nature and self. He believes that evangelism is not a one-way conversation, as it was traditionally taught, but instead it is a discipline that the church can enter into faithfully through “Being With” the people of the local context.