Mark Zalesky to officially assume First Christian pastor position

Sidney native, Mark Zalesky returned to Cheyenne County in 2011 after years of serving in the U.S. military. Pastor Mark has not only made a homecoming but was also voted in by members of the First Christian Church in Sidney to be their pastor after the retirement of their previous pastor Jan. 6.

“I was born and raised in Sidney and I just moved back and am the new pastor, in all sense of the word, new. I had lived in Florida for 25 years in the military and then I moved back here in June of 2011,” said Pastor Mark.

Pastor Mark moved back in June and met his wife in July of 2011. Their one-year anniversary will be this Sunday, the same Sunday that he is scheduled to be officially introduced as the new pastor.

Pastor Mark is a Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom veteran, having served 10 years active in the Navy and 11 years in the Army Reserve.

Pastor Mark said that he hasn’t always been religious, but instead that he found God one night in a Chili’s parking lot in Orange Park, Fla.

“That’s where it all happened. I was saved and born again on Sept. 26, 2002,” he said.

One of the soldiers Pastor Mark worked with was Southern Baptist and had been asking him to go to church; finally he accepted his friend’s offer.

But that was just the beginning of the pastor’s road to faith.

“I was in a bad motorcycle accident in 2010 and I spent a year in the hospital with nine surgeries, skin grafts and two bouts of MRSA,” said Pastor Mark. “I thought the IV was part of my body after awhile. I would go to Bible study down in the hospital carrying my IV bottle with me.”

He said that at the beginning of his hospital stay he thought the worst.

“That first month when I would looked at my leg I told the people in my church that I asked the Lord to take me home,” he said.

“They asked me what the Lord said and I answered ‘Well, he’s obviously not ready for me because I’m still here.’”

“Had it not been for my faith and knowing that God was going to make things work out I probably just wouldn’t have even wanted to go on,” said Pastor Mark.

The pastor said that he moved from the hospital to a Veteran’s Affairs hospital for 10 more months. In the VA hospital Pastor Mark started talking with Chaplains and helping other hospital residents pray and read them scripture.

“Most of the guys were Vietnam and WWII vets. My first roommate was 82-years-old and we still email each other,” he said.

Pastor Mark said that he never pictured himself as a pastor.

“I’ll tell anybody that this is probably the last thing I ever pictured myself doing and even when I was filling in for the pastor in the month of December my wife kept saying ‘This is you; I think this is your calling.’ I said I know but maybe the phone is busy,” he said.

The pastor told his wife that he would pray and if it was God’s will then he would do it.

“I kept praying and praying and here I am.”

Pastor Mark said that the group at his church has been more than welcoming and he is really enjoying it.

“I guess it’s just like moving into a new family. It’s like everybody is welcoming with open arms; it’s fun to be here. I think they like the fact that I don’t look down on anybody because of age and I’m disabled too so I can relate to their pain on frozen mornings,” he said. “We average probably 20 to 25 people per Sunday and we want to bring life back into the church.”

Service for the First Christian Church is on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and there is an evening service at 6:30 p.m.

Pastor Mark said that the morning service is more traditional while the night service is more contemporary.

“I would like to get more of the younger people in town to come to the night service. Everybody is always welcome – the more the merrier,” he said.

Pastor Mark has prepared a sermon titled “Love Is” for this upcoming Sunday in preparation for Valentine’s Day.