Mifflin United Methodist Welcomes New Pastor

After taking a brief leave of absence to explore his own future, the Rev. Austin Hornyak found a new home at Mifflin United Methodist Church.

Hornyak is looking forward to getting to know his new congregation as along with using the benefits of the Regent Square neighborhood and community.

“I think it’s a unique church just in the fact of where it is situated,” Hornyak said. “It’s in between all of these trendy shops on Braddock and we have got Wilkinsburg over here too, and I want to incorporate the full range of that diversity from the community in what we are doing.”

Hornyak, 31, of Oakland grew up in Greensburg where he was influenced by an uncle who was a United Methodist minister.

“I was able to see him from the family side of things instead of the congregational side and I just liked a lot of the things he did,” Hornyak said. “He always had a box of food or clothes, hauling stuff around for outreach and I always thought, ‘that sounds like a pretty cool thing to do day to day.’”

In high school, Hornyak started to consider a future working in the church, getting involved with youth group and joining church committees as a student.

While attending Allegheny College, he was an undecided student heavily involved in the campus’ religious group. The chaplain, John Colatch, became Hornyak’s mentor.

“With talking to him and figuring out what direction I wanted to head, I was considering being an English major and considering sciences, and I just realized, who am I kidding, this is the direction that I have been headed – I have the gifts and the desire to be a leader in the church,” Hornyak said.

Hornyak became a religious studies major and began a nearly 10-year candidacy process for ordination, which he completed in 2009.

He graduated from Duke Divinity School in 2005 with a master’s in divinity. The school is a Methodist seminary for aspiring ministers.

From 2005 to 2007, Hornyak served at Mars United Methodist, then served at First Bethel United Methodist in Bethel Park from 2007 to 2009.

Then, he took a leave of absence.

 “I decided I wanted to see what else was out there and looked from some chaplaincy programs and applied for different jobs at nonprofits, so that’s actually what I was doing for the past year and a half or so,” Hornyak said.

When he decided to come back to the church, he met with his district superintendent in December, who told him a position had opened up in Regent Square.

“He mentioned this and it sounded perfect,” he said. “It’s very close to the city and where I am living now and everything fell into place.”

The Rev. Ron Fleming previously served at Mifflin United Methodist but was appointed to Monongahela United Methodist Church after the pastor there left.

Hornyak said he is looking forward to listening to the congregation and gathering ideas for the future as he works to expand the church community.

“Things in the past aren’t working anymore and they’ve come to that realization and they want to try new things,” he said. “That’s not just limited to the people who were here already but if there are people in the community who are excited about getting involved and trying new things at a church, I am all for that. I love to try new stuff and get creative.”

For more information on the church, call 412-731-2511. Worship is held at 11 a.m. every Sunday.

Hornyak also is a weekly columnist for the Forest Hills-Regent Square Patch.