Mallory Nixon

Background: I grew up in Amherst , Ohio with my mom, dad, brother, and sister. I went to Harvest Christian Church for most of my childhood and teenage years and am grateful for all the faithful people who invested in my life there.

Family: My beautiful wife Chris and I live in Brunswick with our energetic son, Silas, our golden retriever, Shadrach (who we tolerate), and our three cherished cats, Meshach, Abednego, and Dani.

Education: B.A., Art Education, Bluffton University (‘99) M.A.S.M., Youth and Family Ministries, Grace Theological Seminary (‘02) M.A., Teaching, University of Saint Mary (‘08)
My Favorites…

Food: General Tso’s Chicken, Pizza Hut (lunch buffet especially), Chipotle’s Barbacoa burrito, Home-made beef stew

Movie: Anne of Green Gables (I’m not joking, give it a chance.)

Vacation Spot: Disney World (going back for our 10 th anniversary!)

Hobby: Painting, drawing, illustrating, scrap-booking, graphic design, guitar, basketball, riding my Electra Townie bicycle

Books: The Holy Bible, What Will Fat Cat Sit On? (Jan Thomas) Olivia (Ian Falconer) .(can you tell most of my reading time is with my 2-year old son?)

Games: Space Invaders (video game.table-top version.old school!) Cranium (board game.you get to draw, sculpt, and sing!) Blow Chunks (youth group game.blowing a ping pong ball across a table with chewed-up saltine crackers in your mouth)

Place to Be: Kalahari with my wife and son (those kiddy slides sure are fun!)

TV Show: LOST (Live Together, Die Alone)

My Story:

Yes, my name is Mallory and I am a male. If it wasn’t for the popular television show “Family Ties” it would not have been such a big deal, but Justine Bateman’s character “Mallory” ruined it for me. Oh well, after three decades plus of having the name, it doesn’t bother me anymore. In fact, I have never met another guy named Mallory, probably because it means “the unlucky one.”

As far back as I can remember church was always a big part of my life. My earliest memories are from the Vacation Bible School at Church of the Open Door, where I went to preschool. The pastor would tell part of a Bible story and leave you hanging at the end of each day and all of us would anxiously await the continuation of the story the next day. I also loved singing songs like “Deep and Wide” and “Father Abraham,” not to mention the ice cream they passed out on the last day!

My home church, Harvest Christian Church, did not have anything for children in the middle of the week, so our good friends, the Hibbens, invited us to “Olympians”, a really cool kids’ program on Wednesday nights where we sung along with the piano (I particularly remember the song “Something Beautiful”), heard fantastic stories from the Bible (Joseph’s story is still my favorite to this day), and even memorized verses (our theme verse was Philippians 3:14).

Every week at Olympians they ended the night with an invitation to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and that this was the only way to receive forgiveness for sins and to have eternal life. I remember hearing the gospel week after week and knew that I was a sinner and needed to repent (and, like other kids, was scared of going to hell)! Michael Hibben, the son of the leaders of Olympians, was a good friend of mine. One day while we were playing in the woods, he prayed with me and that was when I began my life as a Christian.

Fast forward 16 or so years, when I was doing my student teaching during my senior year at Bluffton College (now University) I began to question what I was called to do for the rest of my life. My cooperating teacher was a believer and he mentioned that his church was looking for a youth pastor. The idea intrigued and excited me! Long story short, I got the job, and worked at First Baptist Church in Lima, Ohio for one year full-time. It was during this wonderful year of ministry that I felt like God was calling me to help teenagers come to know and grow in Jesus Christ.

Immediately following that year, in summer of 2000 I got married to my wonderful wife, Chris (my first and last girlfriend!) Upon returning from our honeymoon, we moved to Winona Lake, Indiana where we lived for two years while I was completing my Master’s Degree in Youth and Family Ministries at Grace Theological Seminary. During this time we were also traveling back and forth to Lima, Ohio to continue our work with the youth at FBC.

Even though we loved our time at FBC in Lima , both Chris and I were feeling a tug to move closer to home. We discovered that a church was being planted in the Strongsville/North Royalton area. We met with the pastor and we hit it off instantly. For four years, we served at Southern Hills Community Church, where we led the Uprising Youth Ministry and had some of our fondest ministry memories. During this time I also began teaching art at Applewood Elementary School in Brunswick, where I work to this day.

In September of 2006, God blessed us with our son Silas, who we are so thankful for and love more than words can say.

During the summer of 2008, we began attending Weymouth Community Church . (right down the road from my wife’s mom, dad, and grandpa, and ironically the church where she was saved during a VBS). A few years prior, we had actually met Pastor Dan and his wife Melissa at adoption classes and Chris used to shoot hoops with Pastor Bob’s son Dathan.

After a few months of attending WCC, we found out that they were looking for a part-time worship/youth pastor. Long story short, God blessed me with this position and I joined the Weymouth team. I get the privilege of leading people in worship and leading the “Torch” Youth Ministry for 6-12 graders.

My life verse is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” I desire to trust, lean on, understand, acknowledge, and follow God and His Word in all I do and pray that I will be able to lead my wife, my son, and the people of WCC to be more like Jesus Christ.