PASTOR DANIEL L. AND TINA MIDDLETON
BIOGRAPHY OF DANIEL L. MIDDLETON I was born on Febuary 10, 1968, near the small town of Perrysville, Ohio, to Christian parents, Victor and June Middleton. I was the 9th child of 14. When I was growing up, family and church were the two main pillars of my life. My family and I attended church three times a week. We never missed a service, unless of illness. Upon graduation from high school, I enrolled in Hyles-Anderson College in the Fall of 1986. My wife, Tina, and I met on October 18, 1987 at the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana on a Sunday Night. We dated for 2-1/2 years. We got married on July 28, 1990, after my wife graduated from Hyles-Anderson College. I graduated from Hyles-Anderson College in 1996, with the help of my dear wife. After graduating, I worked in a church as a Bus Director. In 1999, I served as an Assistant Pastor for two years. In April 2002, God called me to pastor the Mars Hill Baptist Bible Church, where I now serve. God has been really blessing; we are seeing folks saved, baptized and lives changed for the Lord.
Pastor Daniel L. Middleton |
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MARS HILL BAPTIST BIBLE CHURCH HISTORY
The Mars Hill Baptist Bible Church had its beginning on May 12,1967 when a young preacher, Gilbert l. Richey, began a ministry in a 30' by 30' garage with $100 borrowed from his son's earning as a paperboy.
The first Sunday there were 13 people in attendance, with the Sunday School consisting of an adult class and a children's class. Bed sheets were used to separate the two classes. Brother Richey firmly believed in using Sunday School to reach people and within six months had Junior and Teen classes, filling all corners of the building.
In December 1967, to accommodate the growing church's need for more classrooms, Brother Richey moved his congregation of 30 people into a larger building. In this rented building, the Sunday crowd increased to a weekly attendance of 100, with nine Sunday School classes.
In December 1970, the prayers of Brother Richey for addtional room was answered when Lord gave them a building owned by the members of another church who believed that Brother Richey was the new pastor they were looking for. The merging churches resulted in Brother Richey's church relocating into the Mars Hill area and changing their name to Mars Hill Baptist Bible Church.
Brother Richey believed that the power of the Sunday School is making much use of the Bible and that the Sunday School teacher must be a Bible student and a soul winner. Many souls were saved under his leadership and the Sunday crowd grew so that they even used two church buses as Sunday School classrooms.
With Brother Richey's death on May 3,1998, the church lost its founder and beloved pastor. For 31 years, he served as the pastor of Mars Hill Baptist Bible Church.
Shortly after Brother Richey's death, the church called a new pastor, Brother Norris Collier, who stayed three years. After Brother Collier's leaving, the Lord caused the church to be without a pastor for several months while the church prayed God would send them the right man.
On April 21, 2002, they called Daniel L. Middleton, a young man full of zeal and love for the Lord, to be their pastor. Once again the church is seeing souls saved, lives changed and buses rolling down the streets of Mars Hill reaching boys and girls for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
