Malone University Names Greg Nettle as Graduate School Alumnus of the Year

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Greg Nettle

CANTON , OH (10/12/2011)(readMedia)-- Malone University recently recognized Greg Nettle as the Graduate School Alumnus of the Year at the University's Homecoming celebration. Nettle, senior pastor of RiverTree Christian Church in Northeast Ohio and a 1997 graduate of Malone University's master's degree program in theology, currently resides in Canton, OH.

Tribute read at the banquet held in his honor:

Greg started his ministry as a missionary in Ireland where he spent 2 ½ years plating a church in Dublin. Near the end of his time overseas, a small church in rural Jackson Township, Ohio called the 26 year old, single Nettle to be the Senior Pastor of Jackson Christian Church (which was later renamed RiverTree Christian Church). At that point in time, the attendance was approximately 120 people. In 2009, Greg celebrated 20 years of service at RiverTree. And now, more than 3,000 people call RiverTree their church home.

Because Greg is a guy after God's own heart, he has a great passion for two things: children on the margins of society and helping people enter into a deep love relationship with Jesus. As God wrecks Greg's heart on these two fronts, Greg continues to search for ways that the church as a whole can be the hands and feet of Jesus to the world.

One of those ways was to start Kingdom Synergy Partnerships, which is an organization where healthy churches come together to collaborate, share ideas, and invest in planting new churches. Greg's vision through KSP in Ohio is to "make it hard to go to Hell in Ohio." Currently, there are approximately 40 churches in the state of Ohio that are joining forces to help people know Jesus. 12 new churches are already in the process of being launched.

Greg's sense of adventure and his love for travel has taken him to many places around the world including Ireland, Peru, Ecuador, Tanzania, France, England, Holland, South Africa, Wales, Jamaica, Haiti, and Scotland. Greg's recent adventures include summiting Mount Kilimanjaro (the world's highest inactive volcano) and Cotopaxi (the world's highest active volcano).

Greg, and his wife, Julie have two children, Tabitha and Elijah.

Malone University, a Christian university for the arts, sciences, and professions in the liberal arts tradition, affiliated with the Evangelical Friends Church, awards both undergraduate and graduate degrees in more than 100 academic programs. Malone is recognized by the prestigious Templeton Foundation as a leader in character development, named one of Northeast Ohio's Top Workplaces by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and is ranked among the top colleges and universities in the Midwest under the category Regional Universities according to U.S.News & World Report's America's Best Colleges 2012.