By Jeff Matas
State Pastor
I’m thrilled to announce Mickey Foley as the new Associate State Pastor for Indiana Ministries effective Monday, May 15th. Since January, I have been deeply engaged in the process of finding the next associate. I have spoken to state, local, and national leaders for their recommendations. I have had in depth conversations with key members of the staff on the qualifications that I would need and potential people that I should consider. During March I spent a lot of hours with Doug Talley thinking through the target of what I needed in an associate. And of course, I had conversations with potential candidates.
That extensive process led me to Mickey Foley. I have known Mickey for 18 years- since my time at North Anderson (later Madison Park). Mickey and his wife Amanda started off as greeters at North. Over the years, Mickey became more and more involved. He was a key leader in planning and implementing the scaling of North’s volunteer teams for the move to Madison Park. We couldn’t have done it without him. In hindsight, what I was seeing was a prelude to Mickey’s call to vocational ministry. A few years later, under Rolland Daniels’ leadership, Mickey answered a call to pastoral ministry and joined the staff at Madison Park. He has served under three senior pastors at Madison Park and at Grace River in Orlando. He has a passion for evangelism and discipleship and a deep love for the local church.
Mickey is a gifted communicator, and his assessments show that he is incredibly wired to build relational connections with others. It comes naturally to him. Together we will be able to reach twice the number of Sunday connection visits with Indiana churches than I have been able to do alone. And with Mickey’s gift of preaching, many pastors and churches will be asking him to speak during those visits. By the end of the year, Mickey will be taking over the Consultation, Covenant, and Coaching ministry of IM. I will be stepping out of my role with Mission 120 and Mickey will be working with Tom Planck to continue to chart a course for discipleship efforts in Indiana. He will also play a key role in the two new vision initiatives for IM: relational evangelism and developing a youth leadership pipeline.
I’ve asked Mickey to introduce himself to you, you’ll find his message below. Please join me in welcoming Mickey Foley to the staff at Indiana Ministries! If you’d like to email Mickey a note of congratulations, click here.
Introducing Mickey Foley!
As I step into this new role at Indiana Ministries, I do so with a heart of thankfulness, a spirit of humility, and an excitement of anticipation to be a part of what the Lord has in store for this next season in the life of the Church. I wanted to take a brief moment to introduce myself to all of you. There are many of you that I have gotten to know over the last several years across the state through our common connections via Indiana Ministries. I am looking forward in the days to come meeting others of you and developing meaningful relationships as we serve His Kingdom together.
My name is Mickey Foley. I stepped into my call to ministry after a 15-year career in education as a teacher and coach in the public-school setting. Looking back, I see God’s hand in it all as He began to call me to use those skills and abilities to serve Him. I stepped into the role of Spiritual Formation Pastor in 2013 at Madison Park Church of God in Anderson. I served under the leadership of Rolland Daniels. He served as the interim during a season of transition. I am so thankful for his guidance, wisdom, and the influence he continues to have on me.
In 2014, I attended a Healthy Growing Churches conference in Orlando, Florida. It was there that I was introduced to Ken Love, the State Pastor of Florida. That began a relationship that over the next year would develop into an invitation in 2015 to become the Operations Pastor at
Grace River Church under Ken’s leadership. It was a season that was much shorter than I anticipated and yet extremely formative in my ministry journey. God equipped me with the gift of Ken’s mentoring. It was a season that was powerful, challenging, and necessary for my development. The Lord taught me how to lean in and trust Him completely. I began to understand what complete and total surrender and obedience looked like in the call to ministry.
In 2016, I accepted the role of Discipleship Pastor at Madison Park Church of God under the leadership of Paul Strozier. I served in that role over the last six years. It has been such a blessing to serve alongside a tremendous staff and develop lifelong friendships. Like so many of you, we had to face the challenges that came with the pandemic of 2020. We had to disciple and lead as our culture wrestled with social, racial, and economic challenges in our world. We had to navigate a season of isolation for so many in our church and refocus on the importance of community. In spite of all those challenges, I have been able to see God’s faithfulness and celebrate His goodness. Life transformation through discipleship groups, baptisms, individuals in recovery experiencing freedom in Christ, and community impact were all victories that we got to witness because of Jesus.
Serving in ministry is never done alone. I am blessed to have my wife, Amanda, by my side. We have been married for almost 21 years. She is amazing. God in his infinite wisdom, knows exactly what we need long before we even realize. She is a model of humility, self-sacrifice, and servanthood. After 18 years of marriage, we were blessed in 2020 with the birth of our son Noah through the journey of adoption. This little guy is such a gift. He continues to teach me more and more each day about who God is and how much He loves each of us. In case you are wondering, yes, we are “those parents” who love to share all about our Noah and have had to purchase more storage on our phones due to the enormous amount of pictures and videos! We love to travel to new vacation destinations, especially if there is a beach close by. We enjoy being out in nature, spending time with family, and, of course, all things Noah. I am an avid sports fan and especially love college basketball and football. I am a New York Yankees fan but my favorite team of all might be whoever is playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sorry, Jeff, our relationship is going to be a work in progress!
Indiana Ministries has played a vital role in my life and ministry. I have developed great connections through some of our cohort groups. I have been able to grow in both my personal relationship with Jesus and in the practical aspects of ministry. It has been a blessing to participate in the Mission 120 initiative, serve on an Ordination and Licensing Committee, and engage several pastors in the Periodic Ministry Update process. I hope that you have been able to develop a relationship with Indiana Ministries in your ministry context. If not, I’m looking forward to inviting you to join us.
I am so excited for this next season under the leadership and direction of our new State Pastor Jeff Matas. His vision for the future, his integrity in leadership, and his passion for the Church is second to none. I cannot tell you what an honor and privilege it is to step into this role and serve alongside each of you. I want to close with the words I shared at the beginning of this introduction. I am full of gratitude for the countless individuals who have poured into me; I am humbled by this opportunity; and I am full of joyful anticipation for this next season in the life of the Church and Indiana Ministries.
Serving together,
Rev. Mickey Foley
