Name: Mark Irving
Title: Pastor of Adult Discipleship
Description of role: Developing, implementing and leading a reproducible discipleship strategy at Fellowship.
Start Date: June, 2014
Prior Ministry: Discipleship Director, Cedarville University for 13 years; making eternal investments into the lives of college students.
Family Members:
Meredith – spouse (age classified)
Ellie – age 11
Mia – age 9
Emma – age 5 (but will be 6 on Sept. 11)
Education:
- B.A. in Biology, Cedarville University, 1994
- ThM in Educational Leadership, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1999
Hobbies: Playing disc golf and drinking good coffee … but not at the same time. I also enjoy outdoor adventures and woodworking.
Greatest Accomplishment: Convincing Meredith to marry me.
Nickname: Mirv
Favorite Sports Team: Denver Broncos
Favorite Musician: Jack Johnson
Favorite Board Game: Settlers of Catan
Perfect Day: Hanging out with family and friends in a cabin in the woods with hiking trails, a hot tub, laughter and witty banter.
What was most significant to you about your discipleship ministry at Cedarville University?
This question has over a hundred answers, and each of those answers has a name. In other words, I consider the relationships that God allowed me and Meredith to form with hundreds of college students over the years to be the most significant aspect of our ministry. Today, those students are spread across the globe, living for a cause that’s bigger than themselves: Jesus and the gospel.
Thirteen years is a long time invested in one place. What did you learn during these many years at Cedarville?
I learned that its hard to accomplish anything of great significance in ministry in less than a decade. What a mentor of mine once told me rang true: “Faithfulness is the basis of fruitfulness.”
What is something about discipleship that you believe is transferable from a college ministry to your new role at Fellowship?
I like to define discipleship as following Jesus, and inviting others along for the walk. This can be done anywhere! While working with adults of all ages instead of just college students will be a bit of a shift for me, the principles are transferable. I still plan to mimic Jesus in my method: 1.) Focus on a few. 2.) Share my life with them 3.) Invest God’s Word into their lives. 4.) Equip them for ministry 5.) Depend on divine enablement in the process.
How did you and Meredith meet?
I stalked her in the library of Dallas Theological Seminary where we both were students. But don’t worry, I wasn’t creepy about it. I was smooth. She didn’t even know that she was being stalked until after we started dating. Then she realized that I really didn’t study much in the library.
Mark can be reached via email at or on any number of disc golf courses around town…
