John & Susan Seth

Pastor Seth is a local born native of Oil City and grew up in Seneca and Knox. He was one of five children and has one brother and one sister who still live in the area. Susan and John met at Geneva College.

Pastor Seth had spent one year at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary where he received his call to be a pastor. After marrying in 1978, Pastor Seth and Susan headed to Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary where he completed two more years of seminary. During this time, Jessica joined their family and they received their first appointment in the UMC church. This brought them back to Boyers, PA where they spent the next five years.

While in Boyers, in 1982, Phillip was born. They also became involved with the Bair Foundation and became foster parents. In 1983, Julie joined them when she was 15 and has been part of the family ever since. In 1984, Erika was born and then in 1985, they were appointed to the Harmony/Zelienople United Methodist Church. They spent the next 19 years there with Susan staying home to raise their family. Susan become a full-time teacher in 1994.

Pastor John was busy while they were at Zelienople. He completed his doctorate at Fuller Theological Seminary. His dissertation was on church growth. He also is very passionate about prayer ministry and evangelism. He has also received the Denman Evangelism Award which is given to a pastor each year by the Annual Conference for exemplary work in evangelism. In 2004, they moved to the First UM Church of Murrysville and joined Galloway in 2009.

In their free time, Pastor John and Susan enjoy traveling, gardening, kayaking and riding. Pastor John has been a ‘hogman’ for five years as Susan surprised him with a HD Sportster for his 50th birthday. They also enjoy spending time with their grandchildren.

Between the two of them, they have traveled around the globe on various mission trips. Pastor John has been to Korea twice, the Caribbean, Romania and Czechoslovakia. They have both been to Mexico, Antigua, and short term Appalachian trips. They have been to the Holy Land and Egypt. They enjoy learning about different cultures. Susan once served as a Mission Ambassador for the UMC. She spent one month observing the United Methodist work in Haiti, Dominican Republic , and Cuba.