Jason Pauli
Pastor of Junior and Senior High Ministries

What do you do at Grace? I oversee the ministries to junior and senior high students. That’s the simplest explanation. I often tell people that I tell kids about Jesus. I break it down by explaining that I oversee a ministry that reaches out to kids who don’t know God, nurture those that do, and guide some to become leaders in ministry. All this also involves caring for and working with adults that love Jesus and kids and caring for and working with families.

How long have you been at Grace? I’ve been here since August 1st of 2006

Family Information: I tell people that you really don’t know me until you know my family. We’re a team… we’re one. My wife Diane and I were married at Grace in 1992. I have three sons that I love more than anybody. Camden is the Monster Child, because he’s a biggun’. Logan is the Goofball Child, because he loves making people laugh. And Mason is the Golden Child, because he’s so good. Don’t get me wrong, the other two are good also, it’s just that Mason has been a really, really, good baby. As of `06 they’re 8, 6, and 1 respectively.

Education:
I graduated from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1992 with a B.A. in Psychology. Since then I’ve tried to continue educating myself on a formal and informal basis. I figure I’m about halfway to getting my PhD. in Life.

Fun Stuff:
If you were an animal, what would you be (why)? Definitely a dog. We had a white German Shepherd named Thor and now have an Australian Shepherd named Oscar. It looks like a very happy and fun existence. Maybe moles are happier but they definitely don’t look as cool.

Favorite color: I used to say blue. Lately I’ve found myself more and more attracted to orange and green which is weird because I’m not Irish.

Favorite Food: Most guys say that they think their wife is the greatest cook and don’t really mean it. I say it and I abso-positively mean it. It’s a tie for favorite food though… Diane makes an awesome chicken alfredo and I once at a calzone of hers that was bigger than the platter she served it on (Yeah… I said “platter”). Outside of that it’s chocolate peanut butter ice cream from Sarris’ in Canonsburg, PA.

Pet Peeve(s): It takes a whole lot to get under my skin. The only stuff that really gets to me is the real serious stuff. I’ll dig down deep and say non-progressiveness.

Hobbies: I love being involved with kids. I’m lucky; my hobby is also my ministry and my career. I also like being physical, I like pushing my body. Nowadays I do it with whatever is handy and I want to do. Stuff like lifting, basketball, running, swimming, boxing, biking… I’ll try just about anything and do it again if I like it. I used to flip telephone poles for sport so everything else kinda pales in level of difficulty. I have a background in strength and conditioning, olympic weightlifting, track and field, and the Scottish heavy events (That’s where I did the telephone pole flipping.) I also like comic books, music, writing, and video games. All of them enough to be fairly conversant in but not an expert.

If you had 24 hours to live, what three things would you do? Man all I’d want is to be with Diane and the boys. I’m sorry nothing else comes to mind. Outside of me and God, they’re the most important things in my life.

Tell us about a few influential (or favorite) books you’ve read:
The Bible, the living word of God, is the greatest thing I’ve ever read. Outside of that, I’m an AWFUL reader. Being a child of the 80s with its MTV and video games ruined me in this way. One book I love passing on to people and talking about its ideas with is Mike Yaconelli’s Messy Spirituality: God’s Annoying Love for Imperfect People. In fact I need to get a new copy because I gave my last one away. The irony is I used to walk around telling people I thought Mike was a jerk because of something he wrote in the old Wittenburg Door magazine way back. Once I became a fan I got to apologize for that to his face. I wish he was still with us so he could have written more.

Spiritual Stuff:
Tell us a little bit about your spiritual journey: I first told God I wanted to follow Him on my knees with a little old lady in West Virginia named Mrs. Jeffries. My folks always made sure we had a great church to go to that would provide some opportunities for my brother and me. Over the years God has worked me over through relationships with caring adults and friends. Like everyone it’s been a life that’s been up and down. The difference for me is that since I’ve been following Jesus, He’s been with me through it all giving me strength, courage, and most importantly LOVE.

What did you do before you started working at Grace? I was doing youth ministry at a different church.

Why are you passionate about church and ministry? I keep asking myself this question every now and then. It’s a way for me to double check that I’m where God wants me to be. The main reason is that I love Jesus and I love junior and senior high students. That covers the ministry part of the question. But that can be done many other places than in a particular church. I have an abstract reason for choosing to do youth ministry in and through a church: I think that I’m made for it by God inside and out. I believe that I could do some other things really well but I would be miserable because I wouldn’t be where God has made me to be.

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