6 | December 2025
2025 Annual Celebration Scott Gatian Awarded the 2025 Darty and Dot Stowe Award
By Zac James, worship consultant
Worship consultant Zac James awards the 2025 Darty and Dot Stowe award to Scott Gatian, FBC, Lancaster.
Scott Gatian is the 2025 recipient of the Darty and Dot Stowe Award, presented on November 11, during the SCBO Annual Celebration at Lifepoint Church, Mount Vernon. Each year, the Stowe award is given in memory of Darty and Dot Stowe, who served Ohio Baptists from 1954 to 1981. It is presented to a pastor or minister who has served faithfully, was never recognized like those in the larger, more visible churches, but left a legacy and served in the spirit of 1 Thessalonians 2:3-12. Annual gifts to Georgetown College from the Stowe family provide the Darty and Dot Stowe Award. SCBO Worship Consultant Zac James presented the award to Gatian and gave this tribute speech, shortened for space. “History matters. When we join a church staff, we inher - it the cumulative ministry impact, ingrained culture, and leadership decisions of those who came before us. Certain churches can look back to key staff members and pastors who sought the Lord, who stood in the gap, who led through difficult times, and God used their faith - fulness to hold their church together despite the prevail- ing winds that threatened to undo them. This year’s award winner is one of those associate pas- tors who has demonstrated a lifetime of faithfulness, and
that faithfulness played a key role in his home church’s present health and increased CP giving. This year’s award winner was an electrician by trade who gave his life to Jesus. He began his ministry as a part- time youth pastor in 1994 and a year later was ordained into full-time ministry in the same church. He was in it for the long haul and remains a member of that church to this day. He started the praise and worship team at his church and led through the worship wars of the late 90s and early 2000s. He organized and led Upward Basketball for 4-5 years, as well as serving as the in-house elec- trician and IT tech, as his church was brought into the “computer age.” As a youth pastor, he did youth camp, engaged in local missions and fundraising, and led multi-church mission trips to neighboring states. He played Jesus in multiple Christmas cantatas, served in VBS, and counseled mar- ried couples and troubled youth. When I met him, I was a guest worship leader who was amazed at the quality and unity of the worship team he had built. But he was retiring due to stage four spinal cancer that was ravaging his body. I will always be
Story continues on the next page...
Made with FlippingBook Converter PDF to HTML5