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Mars Alliance gets new pastor

Rev. Joseph Toomey
Toomey will take over for Cope

ADAMS TWP — The pastor slated to take over the helm at Mars Christian and Missionary Alliance Church comes with a wealth of experience in the denomination.

On Sunday the Rev. Joseph Toomey will replace the Rev. Paul Cope, who will leave Mars Alliance after 39 years to pastor at a faltering church south of Pittsburgh.

Toomey entered Ramapo College in New Jersey as a pre-medicine major.

“Then God told me I was going to go into ministry against my will,” Toomey said.

After four years at Ramapo, Toomey attended seminary in Nyack, N.Y.

While in the seminary, Toomey traveled to West Newton, south of Pittsburgh, to start a new church. He began with just 10 adults, and left a 200-person congregation in a new church building five years later.

He pastored another church near Charleroi for several years before moving to the denomination’s district office in Punxsutawney eight years later. There, he helped oversee 155 Christian and Missionary Alliance churches in Western Pennsylvania. Toomey’s focus at the district office was new and smaller, failing churches.

Toomey then founded the denomination’s Pennsylvania Bible Institute, which offers a three-year program for those interested in entering the ministry. Pastors in various Alliance churches teach the courses. Toomey still oversees the institute, based at Allegheny Center Alliance Church in Pittsburgh.

The move to Mars Alliance came after he and his wife, Robin, tired of the constant travel required as part of the institute, since Toomey logged about 50,000 miles per year in his job.

“In eight years, I was able to worship in my own church four times,” Toomey said.

He looks forward to taking Mars Alliance to the next level of growth and service to God.

“Mars Alliance is one of those churches I’ve always liked,” Toomey said. “It’s a church full of wonderful people and it has a great history.”

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