Rejoicing in Our Present: The Scalise Family
This week, Pastor Doug and Jill Scalise will celebrate their 35th Wedding Anniversary on July 22, and Doug will have his 60th birthday on July 23rd.
Doug and Jill met at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
The Scalises came to Brewster after serving for six years at Prospect Hill Baptist Church in Prospect Park, PA, just south of Philadelphia.
The Scalise family has a history in ministry that goes back to Doug’s grandfathers.
John Henry Egner (on the left), an immigrant from Holland, and Victor Frank Scalise (on the right), an immigrant from Italy, both came to the United States shortly before World War I began.
Victor was assisted by the pastor of the First Baptist Church in North Adams, MA, James Foster Wilcox, who welcomed a young man from another country, helped him learn English and led him to Christ. Victor and John each had a conversion experience and felt called to the ministry.
John and Victor met as students at New York Biblical Seminary and served together at Bay Ridge Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, NY. It’s hard to imagine all the consequences of an act of kindness by Pastor Wilcox in North Adams leading to generations of ministry.
Between Victor Sr., his son, Victor Jr., and Doug there have already been over 120 years of Christian ministry, in addition to John Egner’s more than 30 years of service.
Nathan and Greg Scalise are carrying on that tradition of serving local churches.
In 1995, after serving for almost six years in Prospect Park, PA, and having their son Nathan, Doug and Jill felt a strong calling from God that they were supposed to come to BBC. God made this clear to them in a host of ways and they believed God was bringing them to lead the church into a time of significant growth and transformation.
BBC was already a fine church with about 150 members. Its spiritual DNA was that of a kind, loving, welcoming faith community that would demonstrate the ability to embrace a significant amount of change for the sake of reaching more people for Christ. The church started to grow as people began to invite friends to worship.
In the spring of 1996, Greg was born, and Doug began work on his Doctor of Ministry degree in Preaching through Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. This was a three-year program, and each year a group of church members worked with Doug in what was called a Parish Project Group to help prepare and review sermons.
Doug earned his D. Min. degree in 1999. The title of his thesis was, “Every Member a Minister” and it reflected that every member of the church has been given gifts to use to glorify God, build up the church, and bless other people.
BBC sought to engage more people in small groups and mission work – both locally and at a distance. This led to mission work trips to several US states, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and as far away as Sofia, Bulgaria, and North East India.
Doug and Jill have always seen themselves as partners in ministry. Jill has played a significant role at BBC spending many years leading our Mission Core Ministry Team and helping the church to share God’s love in practical ways. She also worked and served with people who happened to be homeless, and in the field of housing, with organizations like the Cape Cod Council of Churches and Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod. Currently, Jill works as the Housing Coordinator for the Town of Brewster.
Doug and Jill feel blessed beyond measure to be spending their 29th summer at BBC, and to have known hundreds of wonderful people who have inspired, loved, encouraged, and supported them and their sons, Nathan and Greg. Growing up in such a loving and supportive environment certainly contributed to Nathan and Greg also serving in ministry.
Dr. Nathan Scalise is in his fourth year as the Director of Contemporary Worship at the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield, CT, and he’s a regular part of their preaching rotation.
Nathan and his wife, Zoe, welcomed their son, Caleb, on April 13, 2023.
On June 3, 2024, Rev. Greg Scalise began as the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Manchester, NH.
Greg and his wife, Marci, welcomed their son, Victor Frank Scalise III, on January 29, 2024.
There are many moments at BBC the Scalise family will never forget – the dedication of the new building in October of 2001, the church arranging or a bus to bring people to Brookline in October of 2009 to attend Doug’s mother’s memorial service, and hosting Doug’s father’s memorial service last fall. Doug’s father preached many times at BBC, and his final sermon was given at BBC on July 23, 2023, less than two months before he died.
We also celebrated Greg and Marci’s wedding in August of 2022 and Greg’s Ordination in May of 2024.
The Scalise family can’t express how thankful and grateful they are to have been the recipients of so much love, kindness, and generosity by so many people through the years – that has been expressed in a host of ways, large and small.
Doug is grateful for the support of the church in enabling him to serve the larger American Baptist Church (ABCUSA) family, and the Church in New England and beyond, as well as tolerating his love of baseball.
Doug serves on the Board of Directors for The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts and the Board of General Ministries (BGM) for the ABCUSA, and he serves as the Chaplain for the BGM and the Executive Committee.
Doug has also partnered with Pastor Ben Feldott at Cape Cod Church, and Vision New England, to provide the annual Thrive Cape Cod Conference, featuring worship, keynote speakers, and breakout sessions focused on helping the Cape’s churches thrive and bless their communities!
Doug and Jill pray that, by God’s grace, they will have more years to journey with Jesus together, with everyone at BBC – and to seek to continue to grow in spiritual maturity, and in numbers, as we invite and welcome more people to share in the blessing of being part of God’s family at BBC.