BUTLER TWP — It’s taken two years, but the congregants of St. John’s Reformed Church, 494 Evans City Road, think they’ve found a worthy successor to their longtime pastor, the late Rev. Bob Peterson.

Jarrod Crawford, 28, took over the pulpit just after Memorial Day at the independent church chartered in 1845.

The church averages about 100 in attendance at its weekend service, Crawford said.

Bruce Ball, a member of the nine-person search committee, said it was difficult replacing Peterson, who had been St. John’s pastor for 28 years before he died in 2013.

Ball said, “He held on. He did a lot of services when he was ill.”

Ball said the search for a new pastor took two years and he considers the church lucky.

“We were told that the average search could last three years,” said Ball.

“We had a quite a few candidates at the church,” said Ball. “At least five or six. But the fact (Crawford) was from Western Pennsylvania helped. The other candidates were from Florida, Maine, California and Alabama. They were all good candidates, but they weren’t from around here.”

Crawford grew up in Washington, Pa., the son of George and Shelley Crawford.

He graduated from Grove City College in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in music and then attended Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts where he graduated with a master’s degree in theology in 2012.

“Since high school I have known I’ve had the calling” to become a minister, said Crawford.

“I was doing an internship at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Butler here when I heard about the opening,” Crawford said.

“I was working full-time at the Pilot Travel Center on Route 422 while doing the internship,” he said.

“The goal was to be a really well-rounded worship leader. I taught Sunday school. I planned a small church picnic. I sat in on all the different activities of the church,” said Crawford.

“What happened was I came in to preach here (St. John’s) in November just to do pulpit supply,” he said. “Three weeks after that I got contacted by a member of the search committee to submit an application.”

“The way things panned out, we never really talked until March,” he said, because his daughter, Annalisa, was born in January.

He talked with Ball on the search committee.

“On that Sunday (the next to last Sunday in April) I preached on a Psalm,” said Crawford. “The topic was your best defense.”

“They had me come in and meet with the search committee,” said Crawford. “The interviews went well.”

“Before the church service, there was an open interview with the congregation,” Crawford said.

He said, “They were asking about my particular beliefs. They also asked if I was going to use the church parsonage, but mostly about matters of faith.”

Crawford said after the service, he and the congregation had a meet-and-greet dinner at the church.

Two weeks later, he was invited back to preach and then the congregation took a vote on whether to offer him the job.

He and his wife, Ashley, have been married six years. In addition to Annalisa, 6 months, they have Joshua, 4 and Andrew, 2.

They were both music majors, he said, and met at Grove City College.

“Ashley will be doing some of the organ accompaniment at services,” he said.

He described St. John’s as an independent church since it split with the United Church of Christ in the early 1980s.

Ball said Crawford has to have a church to serve before he can be ordained.

Asked about plans for the church, Crawford said, “That’s a tough question. There’s my vision and there’s reality, too. My hope is to help them regain some traction.”

“They’ve been looking for a pastor for two years. I want to see them unifying again and break barriers that may have come up,” he said.

“I’d really like to help enhance their understanding of what we do on Sunday, particularly in regards to the worship service,” Crawford said.

“I want people to really grasp and have an understanding of the different elements; the call to worship, what we mean, why we say this is a call,” Crawford said. “What we try to accomplish when we sing. In addition to the prayer, baptism, the collection, the Benediction.”

Ball said, “I don’t know if he will reach 28 years, but there is always hope for that.”