OUR TEAM
About
Our partners and our community are the reason Catalyst exists.
JOHN MURRAY
FOUNDING PASTOR
John Murray, an Ithaca resident since arriving at Cornell University from Greensburg, Pennsylvania in 1974, met Lansing native Kathy Ellis at The Love Inn, a counter cultural church, in the spring of 1978. Three years later, in June of 1981, the two were married at the same place they met, The Love Inn.
Over 40 years later, John is currently bi-vocational serving both as the Lead Pastor at Catalyst Vineyard Church and as the CEO and co-owner of Advantage Sport & Fitness.
KATHY MURRAY
CATALYST KIDS PASTOR
Kathy was a stay-at-home mom for six years and later returned to school to earn a bachelor’s degree in English Education from Ithaca College (1994) and a Master’s Degree in Education from Binghamton University (1996). She spent over 18 years as a teacher in the Ithaca City School District, instructing students in English and Remedial Reading at DeWitt Middle School. Kathy is a graduate of the Vineyard Leadership Institute and has participated along with John in various Vineyard Church Planting Boot Camps and Roundtables.