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 As part-owner of a roofing company, Mike Silich has spent a lot of time in high places. But his real calling is much higher.
Bearded and burly, he has a soft heart, a friendly demeanor and a great deal of compassion. Silich, a partner in L.W. Miller Roofing Co., became a Christian in 1976, and he began working in the church almost immediately.
He has spoken in churches since 1988, but a couple of years ago he felt the call to extend his ministry to help people find the church and also to encourage cooperation among churches of various denominations and cultural backgrounds.
He saw such ministry beginning in the area several years ago, with the establishment of the Washington County Men's Prayer Breakfast and with regular prayer meetings for the city and community leaders.
He felt that he should do something, too. So this year he launched Springtime Harvest Ministries, aimed at encouraging Christians and bringing together churches of various styles.
Silich preaches. His wife, Kathy, sings and works with women. The couple's two daughters, Tara and Nikki, also worked with the ministry until going to college.
Silich took several courses offered by nationally known ministries and now is attending the multicultural Covenant Church of Pittsburgh to learn more about reconciliation ministry.
But Silich also has a passion to reach out to people who never go to church, and he has a plan to put the story of Jesus Christ into every home in Washington County. He is coordinating the distribution of thousands of "Jesus" videos in townships and boroughs throughout the county.
Silich got the idea for the project one day a few years ago. He was sitting on his riding mower at the time.
"I was just cutting my grass, and I went over and introduced myself to a new neighbor," said Silich, who lives in North Franklin Township. "After I did that, I came back and started cutting and looking around and praying for all of my neighbors, and I was wondering how I could share Christ with all of my neighborhood."
Silich had heard about the "Jesus" video at a prayer summit he attended. Produced by Campus Crusade for Christ, more than 13 million of the videos have been distributed around the country since 1992.
Silich approached the pastors of churches in North Franklin, and they raised the money to buy the videos and enlisted volunteers to distribute them.
Last November, 150 people gathered outside Avery United Methodist Church for the first distribution. Groups of four delivered more than 1,900 videos.
Since then, videos have been distributed to Houston Borough, Chartiers Township and Amwell Township. More than 9,000 videos have been given out to date. Silich even has a color-coded map depicting the areas that already have received videos and those that are yet to get them, as well as a timeline for covering much of the county.
"We're in the process right now of mobilizing Canton Township, Canonsburg, North Strabane and South Strabane," he said, holding up his map. "That will have the whole city of Washington surrounded, and then hopefully in 2004 we're going to come to the city."
The Canton distribution has been set for Nov. 14.
"The purpose of the video is to put the gospel message according to the book of Luke into every home in Washington County without offense," Silich said. "I have no idea what I'm tapped into, but I know it's a pretty neat thing."
Paul Powers, founder and executive director of the Washington County Men's Prayer Breakfast, has known Silich for about 25 years.
"He is very relational. Pastors just love Mike," Powers said. "The 'Jesus' video breaks down walls. In Chartiers Township and Houston, he brought churches together that may have never been together before to work for a common goal. That in itself is very good."
Silich said the projects he now is working on have been in his thoughts for years. "It's just started to come to fruition in the last several months," he said. "And where we're going with it? I don't know. Only God knows."
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