Meet Our Pastor:
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Joseph Stopyra is the pastor of Locust Valley First Church of God, as well as our sister congregation Pleasantville First Church of God.
Pastor Joseph was born July 20, 1978 in Chambersburg PA. His parents are Andrew Stopyra and Janet Buterbaugh. Because his father was in the Army he moved a lot. He graduated from Shippensburg Area High School in 1997. He came to God at Roxbury Holiness Camp in the summer of 8th grade and felt the call for full time service to God. After high school he ran from church and God. |
Pastor Joseph Stopyra (left) and his family.
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Pastor Joseph met his wife Amy in 2004. They started attending Chambersburg First Church of God and got married on April 5, 2005. During a men’s group meeting, the leader asked Joseph “if he was done running yet”. Shortly after that he was laid off from his job. He enrolled in the Pastoral Training Institute of Winebrenner Theological Seminary. He received his diploma in 2015. Joseph and Amy have three children, Ivy Cook, Joseph Jr. and Joy. Sometimes their family includes other children as Joseph and Amy are foster parents. They have one grandson, Liam. Prior to serving at Locust Valley and Pleasantville, Pastor Joseph served as a bivocational Pastor of Blue Mountain Church of God, beginning in 2015. He works at Chambersburg waste paper driving roll off trucks.
Our History
Rev. John Winebrenner, founder of the Churches of God General Conference, and fellow minister Thomas Bean visited Locust Valley and held an outdoor series of meetings and services. Fifteen people chartered a new congregation organized by Rev. Winebrenner on September 28, 1852. The new congregation took the name "Sigler's Bethel," named for the Henry and Sarah who owned the farm on which the meeting place for worship, a schoolhouse, stood. The Sigler's son, George, was elected the first deacon of the church and he later was ordained a minister and became publisher of The Church Advocate.
In 1879, the congregation built our first church on land acquired from the Sigler family. This frame structure housed the congregation over the next 87 years and was expanded and improved several times. In the mid-1890s, the congregation was renamed Locust Valley Church of God. In 1966, Locust Valley Church divided as a result of a disagreement over the importance of ecumenicalism. The portion of the congregation voting to become independent took the name Locust Valley Bible Church and retained the old building. Members of the Church of God worshiped at the home of one of our congregation's elders over the next eight years and held Sunday School classes in nearby Burkittsville.
During the summer of 1973, the congregation's trustees arranged to acquire the abandoned Mount Hope Church and over the following months rebuilt the historic stone structure which had been built in 1909. The structure was rededicated as Locust Valley First Church of God on April 21, 1974. In the early-1980s, a trailer was procured to serve as our Fellowship Hall (this structure was refurbished in 2016). In 2012, an ADA-compliant restroom was built on the back of the church and in 2020, the congregation refreshed our historic sanctuary with new paint and carpet.
In 1879, the congregation built our first church on land acquired from the Sigler family. This frame structure housed the congregation over the next 87 years and was expanded and improved several times. In the mid-1890s, the congregation was renamed Locust Valley Church of God. In 1966, Locust Valley Church divided as a result of a disagreement over the importance of ecumenicalism. The portion of the congregation voting to become independent took the name Locust Valley Bible Church and retained the old building. Members of the Church of God worshiped at the home of one of our congregation's elders over the next eight years and held Sunday School classes in nearby Burkittsville.
During the summer of 1973, the congregation's trustees arranged to acquire the abandoned Mount Hope Church and over the following months rebuilt the historic stone structure which had been built in 1909. The structure was rededicated as Locust Valley First Church of God on April 21, 1974. In the early-1980s, a trailer was procured to serve as our Fellowship Hall (this structure was refurbished in 2016). In 2012, an ADA-compliant restroom was built on the back of the church and in 2020, the congregation refreshed our historic sanctuary with new paint and carpet.