MCC's Staff
MCC's Pastor is Rev. Dr. Keith McCrory who claims dual citizenship between Derry & Donegal. Keith grew up not going to church but came to faith as a teenager between playing any and every sport he was allowed to compete in. After school he went to Durham University to study Computing & Electronics before entering the Presbyterian ministry. Later, he completed his doctorate on church planting at Fuller Theological Seminary in California. He moved to Maynooth in 2003 with his wife Sheena and their two children as they were getting MCC off the ground. He is also the founder of the community & reconciliation charity the Saint Patrick Foundation. In his free time, Keith still plays golf whenever he can, is a nifty painter and makes a mighty chilli.
Lorraine Wylie is the youth and student worker at MCC. A native of Tobermore, Lorraine studied psychology at Coleraine University before spending five years working with university students in Dublin with IFES Ireland. Lorraine recently married Andy, with whom she has a deplorably healthy habit of going walking. She may be addicted to tea. She loves working with young people and showing them the subversive beauty of Grace. She blogs at Transfarmer.
Kevin Hargaden is the Irish Mission Worker at MCC. He never expected to end up working for a church, nevermind a Presbyterian one. A native of Leixlip, Kevin studied Computer Science at NUI Maynooth, around which time he discovered his own faith in Christ through Lucan Presbyterian Church. His wife Claire twisted his arm and convinced him to come along to MCC at the start and he has never looked back. Kevin is training to be a Presbyterian minister at St. Patrick's College in Maynooth. His hobbies include reading, watching copious amounts of movies and comiserating after Manchester City's most recent humiliating loss. He blogs at Creideamh.
Elders
Alongside being our representative elder, Dr. Patrick Mitchel is the Director of Studies and lecturer in theology at the Irish Bible Institute. The author of Evangelicalism and National Idenity in Ulster, he is passionate about equipping church leaders with an understanding and competency in theology that actually allows them to apply it to the society they live in. Alongside contributing chapters to books and delivering papers at conferences, Patrick has been heavily involved in the establishing of the Evangelical Alliance Ireland, was a member of the influential ECONI group during the Northern Irish troubles and regularly preaches at MCC. He blogs with maniacal regularlity at Faith In Ireland. He has been known to accidentally humiliate people on the golf course with his prowress. He lives in Maynooth, is married to Ines and has two daughters.
Raised in Co. Down, Laurene Barry moved to Dublin where she met her husband Paul while studying Philosophy and English and has never really left. She was a member of our parent congregation at Lucan Presbyterian Church for many years before being amongst the first exploratory Bible study that grew into MCC. Laurene lives in the countryside outside Maynooth with her husband Paul. She has three daughters, a grandson and a quite spectacular garden. She is also an assistant principal at Maynooth Post-Primary school, where her infectious enthusiasm for English literature and drama has been rubbing off on students for quite a few years now. Laurene has great gifts of hospitality, often hosting our church barbecues, is a great orator, a trained counsellor and regularly preaches at MCC.
Tom Gilliam is a native of the Washington D.C. area
who went to college at the University of Virginia. He has worked in many different countries with companies such as Esso before he and his wife Vicki, along with their three boys, discerned a call to global mission. They arrived in Ireland in the summer of 2003 with World Harvest Mission and showed up in MCC on only our second Sunday in existence. Since then they have been an integral part of the development of our community and Tom is the first elder appointed directly by the congregation. In his work Tom seeks to identify, disciple and release emerging Irish leaders into church planting alongside supporting the ongoing work of new churches around the island. He can do a pretty good Maynooth accent, has a keen understanding of Irish history and contemporary Irish politics and an admirable grasp of GAA for a man who wasn't graced with a club near his house growing up. He is a skilled guitarist with a love of classic rock and often lends his gifts to help lead worship.
