CRANBERRY TWP — Tom Parkinson was just a teenager when people in his church started to take notice.

They saw the strength of his faith and told him he had been given a gift from God.

When he was 14, he got the calling. “I was blessed that God gave me a very clear call early on,” Parkinson said.

More than 17 years later, that calling led him to the Dutilh United Methodist Church, 1270 Dutilh Road.

Parkinson, 31, was named senior pastor at the church July 1. He is joined by his wife, Amy, and their children, Isaac, 7, and Naomi, 2.

“We’re really delighted to be here. We love Cranberry,” Parkinson said. “We’re blessed by a congregation that welcomed us with great hospitality and care.”

Parkinson grew up in Indiana, Pa., and attended Geneva College and Duke Divinity School. He was formerly the associate pastor at Faith United Methodist Church in Fox Chapel.

In the Methodist Church, pastors are appointed to churches by a bishop, who works with the congregation to identify which candidate will meet the congregation’s criteria.

“Pastor Tom meets and exceeds those characteristics,” said Jerry Andree, chairman of the church’s leadership board. “We’re all very excited to welcome Pastor Tom.”

Andree said Parkinson is engaging and energetic.

“We look forward to his leadership,” he said.

Parkinson said he wants to re-energize the community, extending the church’s caring and love in Cranberry Township and beyond.

“The church cannot be contained by four walls,” he said. “We need to be out in the world imparting love.”

As part of that goal, the church has two mission trips coming up this summer and a “blessing of the backpacks” service in August.

“We want to impart (to the community) that God is part of everything,” he said. “We want to be viewed as a positive, caring church.”

Parkinson said he is excited about the church’s outreach missions this summer including the Pittsburgh Project and a long-awaited trip to Costa Rica.

The Pittsburgh Project is a non-profit organization that pairs volunteers with elderly, disabled or widowed homeowners in the Pittsburgh area, said Makenna Kuntz, a church intern and former Pittsburgh Project volunteer. Volunteers help with home improvement projects, building porches, fixing roofs and, in some cases, renovating rooms of the home.

A group from the church will journey to Costa Rica July 23 to Aug. 2. While there, the group’s members will help build a shelter and teach vacation Bible school and some English classes, Kuntz said.

Parkinson said he is grateful for the support of the church as he begins his new position.

“The minister doesn’t have to do it all,” he said. “There is a lot of support from the lay people who use their gifts for the church.”

The Dutilh United Methodist Church was formed in 1844 by four families in a local barn. A donation in the 1870s allowed construction of a larger church.

After a fire in 1986, the current building was constructed and dedicated in 1989. In 2010, the Dutilh church merged with the Mars United Methodist Church which became the Mars campus of the church.

Dutilh, which has 900 members, has three Sunday morning services at its Cranberry campus and a Saturday evening service in Mars.

More information about the Dutilh United Methodist Church can be found on its website at DutilhUMC.org.