Meet Our Staff Team
Pastor Tim Chicola, Lead Pastor
Pastor Tim was born and raised on Long Island’s south shore (Seaford) and has been the Lead Pastor at The Crossing Church since December of 1994. He and his wife Marianne first visited what was then the West Essex Baptist Church in the Spring of 1987 after completing pastoral duties in the Chicago suburb of Prospect Heights, Illinois. For seven years, they served in a number of capacities at the church before being called to the Lead Pastor position.
Pastor Tim is passionate about the local church, believing that a Christ honoring and Holy Spirit directed local church is the last great hope of the world. His life verse is 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord,” (KJV).
Pastor Tim is a rabid fan of the New York Giants and New York Yankees. He counts Dr. Haddon Robinson, Dr. Timothy Keller, Mrs. Terry Franits, his late cousin Pastor Daniel Mercaldo, and his pastor in his formative years, the late Pastor Robert Hoover, as his mentors and heroes of the faith, who all were used by God to form him spiritually.
He attended Northeastern Bible College (B.B.L. 1980), Denver Seminary (M.Div. 1985), and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (D.Min. 2007).
Pastor Tim’s dear wife Marianne, a servant of Christ ‘s and the Crossing Church, went home to her Savior in August of 2023 after a two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer. Together they were blessed with four wonderful children, Joseph (deceased), Kaitlin Elliott (Scott), Emily Carpenter (Matthew), and Caroline Chicola.
Pastor Tim lives in Hackettstown, New Jersey just down the road from his three spectacularly gorgeous, and brilliant granddaughters Jayce (7), Emerson (5), and Parker (1).
Pastor Peter Seide, Associate Pastor
Pastor Peter has been serving as Associate Pastor at The Crossing Church since 2019. He is married to his wife, Holly, and they have four boys - Josiah, Jonah, Aaron, and Peter. Towards the end of his high school years, he felt the Lord was calling him to serve in ministry. During his freshman year at Cairn University, he concluded that God was leading him to specifically pursue becoming a pastor. He has been greatly influenced by Pastor Trygve Tomlinson and Pastor Tim Chicola, his two mentors during his pastoral career. They taught him what it means to be a shepherd and the importance of preaching God’s truth to the hearts of His people.
Pastor Peter’s best memory from The Crossing Church is growing up in the youth group, where he not only came to a saving knowledge of Jesus but was also surrounded by a loving body of believers who cared for him. God has radically changed his life by showing him the depths of His forgiveness of his sins, which has given him the grace he needed to forgive others. His favorite book of the Bible is Romans because he loves how Paul spells out each of the amazing elements of the gospel of salvation in Christ. Outside of serving in the church, Pastor Peter enjoys carpentry, reading, hiking and spending time with his family.
Pastor Peter's Life Verse - Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways submit to him, and he wil make your paths straight."
Pastor Scott Elliott, Operations Pastor
Pastor Scott serves as the Pastor of Operations, which means he works on systems and processes behind the scenes. His goal is to help the church run smoothly and to help people come to know and follow Jesus.
Originally from Colorado, Scott received his Masters Degree from Denver Seminary and moved to New Jersey with his family in 2015. Scott has over 20 years of pastoral experience and various capacities of church leadership, coaching and consulting.
His favorite things in this world are his wife, Kaitlin, and three daughters - Jayce, Emerson, and Parker. In his free time, you might find him coaching soccer, co-hosting the "So… What Else" podcast, or enjoying a bowl of cereal… honey nut cheerios, of course.
James 1:27 - Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Ilona Nagy, Executive Director
Ilona joined the staff at The Crossing Church in the fall of 2019 after transitioning from a career in the business world for over 25 years. Growing up a pastor’s kid in Central NJ, God called Ilona into full-time ministry, merging her corporate experiences and church volunteer leadership over two decades. Ilona has a B.A. from Lafayette College majoring in English and Psychology.
Having spent a great deal of time teaching, mentoring and equipping teams and the younger generations, Ilona is passionate about continuing this at the local church and beyond. She loves to learn and bring others alongside her to encourage and disciple them.
In her free time, Ilona loves to read, spend time outdoors, and be with her family. Her favorite book in the Bible is Ephesians. Priscilla Shirer’s Bible Study on Ephesians, Armor of God, was life-changing and instrumental in discerning her call to ministry.
At the age of 5, Ilona’s Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Pepper, gave her a plastic loaf of bread filled with Bible verses written on cards. Proverbs 3:5 was the first verse she memorized from the cards and has become her life verse - ”Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” God continues to direct all her paths.
Joe Harris, Worship Director
Joe has been serving on staff at The Crossing Church since 2022. Through his experience studying music in college, Joe felt called to enter worship ministry. After years of patiently serving in worship, God opened the door for him to become the Worship Ministries Director at The Crossing Church. Joe was raised in York, PA, and went to Messiah College, where he met his lovely wife, Katie. They have 2 dogs together, Bailey Blue and Indy.
Joe's Favorite Bible Verse - Matthew 6:26-27 "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"
Kaitlin Elliott, Children’s Ministry
Kaitlin joined the staff at The Crossing Church in the Fall of 2023. She has been part of the church from birth through adolescence. Although life took Kaitlin to Colorado for four years and then a different church for six years while her husband served on staff, The Crossing has always been home. Kaitlin was a public school teacher for grades 3-8 in both Colorado and New Jersey. She has been married to Scott since 2013 and have three beautiful girls — Jayce, Emerson, and Parker.
Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; He will quiet you by his love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Katie Harris, Children’s Ministry
Katie has been attending The Crossing Church since 2022. Katie has always had a passion for working with children. She went to college for Early Elementary Education and is a first grade teacher in Clifton. Katie grew up in Roseland and now lives in Little Falls with her husband, Joe, and their adorable pups, Bailey Blue and Indy.
Psalm 23:1-3 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”
Jessica Soprano, Children’s Ministry
Jessica has been attending The Crossing Church since 2016. Being a Preschool teacher, she started serving as a volunteer in the children's ministry soon after and joined the Crossing Kids Ministry Staff in September 2023. Jessica is blessed to be able to serve families and children of the church and watch God's hand work through this ministry. Jessica is married to Steve and they share a beautiful daughter who loves attending Crossing Kids!
Jessica's Life Verse - Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God".