The Mission Central Parish is a cooperative of eleven United Methodist Churches in Harford County and Baltimore County, MD, working together to better serve our communities and make disciples of Jesus Christ. The Parish is led by our teams of pastors who are also joined by a contingent of retired pastors and lay speakers who assist in leading worship at many of our churches. Together we work to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!
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Our Parish is focused on reaching out in love and service as we strive to:
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SERVE
Expand community engagement and impact.
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LEAD
Increase mission to reach more of the least,
the last, and the lost.
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HOPE
Empower people to move into deeper
relationship with Christ.
OUR PASTORS
The pastors of the Mission Central Parish provide the overall leadership within our eleven churches. They care for the pastoral needs, administration, programming, and mission outreach planning. Pastor Karin and Pastor Danny are the lead appointed pastors who oversee the general administration and leadership of the churches. They are joined by a team of part-time pastors that assist in different areas of the life of the church.
Rev. Dr. Karin Walker
Senior Pastor
Pastor Karin is the senior pastor of Fallston United Methodist Church and the Mission Central Parish. She has served Fallston for the past seven years and helped the congregation to grow. Her perspective is that the outward mindset is a key to church growth and it aligns us with the gospel of Christ. When we serve the least, the last, the lost, we become more and more like Jesus. Karin coaches Cross Country and Track at Fallston High School. She is married to Mike and has two children—Joshua who is married to Judi, and Marissa. Karin enjoys training for triathlons, reading, and gardening.
Rev. Danny Breidenbaugh
Executive Pastor
Pastor Danny serves full-time as the associate pastor of Fallston UMC and the Mission Central Parish. He received his Masters of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington, DC) and a Bachelors of Science in Music Education from Towson University. He has previously served churches in Bunker Hill, WV and Truxton/Homer, NY. He has also previously served as a church music director and on staff at the West River UMC Summer Camp. Danny's wife, Anastasia, is a veterinarian at Perry Hall Animal Hospital. They enjoy playing board games, camping, and spending time with their twin daughters!
Pastor Deirdre Duda
Pastor of Visitation
Dierdre is a Licensed Local Pastor and a candidate for Ministry. She holds a certificate in Christian Counseling and is currently pursuing a degree in Applied Apologetics from the Colorado Christian University through their CAGS program. She has also completed the Course of Study classes through Wesley Theological Seminary. Dierdre works part-time as a community life assistant at Glen Meadows Retirement Community. She has one son who is a US Marine, two cats, and loves to kayak every chance she gets!
Pastor Paul Krebs
Local Pastor
Paul has been a member of Salem UMC, Upper Falls for the past 30 years and has pastored at the Deer Creek Charge prior to join the MCP team.
Paul and his wife, Amy, currently live in Kingsville, Baltimore County.
Cole Chandler
Pastoral Intern
Cole is beginning his studies at Wesley Theological Seminary and is pursuing a Master of Divinity. Cole has grown up at Fallston UMC and has participated in a number of activities throughout the church and MCP. Cole has a passion for music as it is one of his favorite ways to worship God.
OUR SPEAKERS
The Mission Central Parish is blessed to have a wide range of retired clergy, lay pastors, and lay speakers who serve as the Sunday morning speakers at our churches.
They each have a heart for preaching and leading worship!
Rev. Steven Cochran
Steven is a retired elder in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, having served and been a part of several of our MCP churches. He also works as a counselor.
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He has three grandchildren and is enjoying retirement with his wife on the Eastern Shore.
Jordan Dennis
Jordan Dennis is a member at Grace United Methodist Church in Aberdeen, MD. He graduated from York College of Pennsylvania in 2010, with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications. He worked in radio as a board operator for seven years, and then spent another seven years working in background investigations for the Department of the Army. Currently, Jordan works as a technical writer.
In his free time, Jordan enjoys playing ukulele and guitar. He just recently started weight lifting and dabbles in disc golf. He enjoys reading science fiction and fantasy, and plays tabletop role playing games. Jordan lives with his wife, Jackie, two utterly terrifying cats and a snuggle puddle of a dog.
Rev. Dr. Jim Ditto
Jim ‘semi-retired’ in 2010 after serving for forty-two years in parish ministry, the final twenty-two at Fallston UMC. During this time, he spent five years as adjunct-faculty at Wesley Theological Seminary and two summers working and studying in England(Sheffield & Bristol) while participating in ministerial exchanges.
After retirement from full-time ministry, Jim worked two and one-half years for the Baltimore-Washington Conference(UMC) as a ‘Guide’ in the Baltimore Region. Following this, he worked(p/t) as a Small Group Facilitator/Coach in both the ‘Financial Leadership Academy’ and the ‘Academy of Church Finances’ for the Mid-Atlantic United Methodist Foundation.
Jim received a B.S. in Economics from the University of Maryland, a M.L.A. from the Johns Hopkins University, and both the M.Div. and D.Min. degrees from Wesley Theological Seminary.
Minister Rutha Eakin
Minister Rutha Eakin is a Greenville, North Carolina native, however at a very young age she moved to Baltimore, Maryland. Presently she is a resident of Harford County, Maryland. Minister Eakin was married to the love of her life, the late Minister Fred G. Eakin Jr. and God has blessed this loving union with four incredible children and six adorable grandchildren.
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Minister Eakin and her husband went on a sabbatical from their previous church, First Mount Olive FWB Church in 2017 to assist in ministry under The Rev. Marlon B. Tilghman, Pastor of Ames United Methodist Church in Bel Air Maryland. The ministry included but not limited to; preaching; teaching and dramatic productions. They became a permanent part of the Ames UMC Family 2018.
But Minister Eakin just wants you to know, before anything else, she is a child of the living God and she loves the Word of God, and the People of God. She also seeks to have a more intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Steven Gatitu
Stephen was born and raised in Kenya; East Africa. He came to faith in Jesus through the preaching from (John 3:16). He is married to Grace and blessed with Three young beautiful girls and one son.
Gatitu is a graduate of Pwani Bible Institute - Diploma in Bible and Pastoral ministries, Bachelor of Theology: World Missions College V.A. and currently an M.Div. Student at World Missions College, Fairfax, VA.
Stephen was ordained and has been in the ministry as a youth Pastor, High School Board member, Missions Coordinator, Student Chaplain in a girls High School and as the Lead Pastor of a vibrant growing church before moving to the USA for further training and equipping for the ministry of loving God and serving him with and through his people.
Ron Gompf
Ron was raised in the Methodist Church (Arnolia and Towson). After a period of “church inactivity” he returned to church after the birth of his daughter and has served in various positions. He was appointed to serve as Pastor of Wiseburg UMC in 2012 and served there through June of 2018.
This was a “second career. Prior to that he was in the mental health field and was/is a Sociology Professor.
He and his wife, Norma, reside in Glen Arm, Md.
Annabel Lusardi
Annabel has been a member at Fallston UMC for the last 22 years and a full time employee of the Mid Atlantic Foundation of the UMC. The foundation does investment of funds for local churches and stewardship education.
Annabel is a certified coach for laity and clergy through the Financial Leadership Academy. Prior to her work with the Foundation, Annabel was Director of education and coordinator of Discipleship ministries at Fallston, worked for a nonprofit raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
She and her husband Tom have three grown children. She sings in the praise band at Fallston and works as a youth leader.
Rev. Betty Megill
Betty is a child of God, a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend and retired pastor. She is an Ordained Elder in Full Connection in the United Methodist Church. She was an interpreter for the hearing impaired for 10 years when God called her into ministry during her participation in the 34-week Disciple Bible Study. She pastored 5 churches in her 22 years in ministry, two of her appointments in two-point charges.
Betty learned a great deal from the congregations she served and hopes they also learned from her. She was encouraged by how they lived out their faith especially during difficult times. In 2014, she and her husband, Glenn, moved from New Jersey to Perryville, Maryland to be closer to their daughter, Christy, her husband, Binu, and two beautiful grand-daughters, Hannah and Abby.
Rev. Perry Miller
Raised and educated in Alabama and South Carolina, Perry choose seminary in Massachusetts. Along the way he worked in civil engineering, city planning, architecture, and home remodeling, and was employed as a dishwasher, truck driver, motel manager, and road repair man.
Perry's primary love is his family, where his three children have given him 10 grandchildren which added to his wife’s three and 6 more grandchildren make reunions tough to schedule. From early on his efforts have been dedicated to helping the church become more inclusive.
Perry's most rewarding experiences continue to revolve around mission trips, ecumenism,church growth and interfaith understanding. He continues to believe that the church is called to be a sign, instrument, and foretaste of God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven. For him the prophet’s call to “ do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God “ remains a worthy life’s calling.