WHO WE ARE

Rise Up Student Ministry is led by Chris and Sara Soltis — a Genoa family with five kids, deep roots in this community, and a calling that has been years in the making.

Rooted in Genoa

Chris and Sara aren’t starting a ministry from the outside looking in. They’re already here — coaching from the sideline, teaching in the classroom, raising their own kids in the same schools and sports and community spaces where Rise Up will take root.

Chris served as President of the Genoa Soccer Club for nearly ten years, coaching alongside parents and students he’s watched grow up. He currently teaches 6th grade math at Perrysburg Schools. Sara is deeply woven into the fabric of the community through her involvement with Ottawa County 4-H, Junior Fair, and her work as a Registered Nurse. Together, they’ve spent years building relationships with the families they now hope to serve.

Their five children are actively involved in Genoa schools, sports, and extracurriculars. Ministry isn’t something Chris and Sara do separately from their family life — it’s something they live together.

How God Prepared Us for This

Rise Up didn’t start with a strategic plan. It started with years of prayer, conversation, and a growing conviction that God was calling them to create something for the students in this community.

Sara holds a Bachelor of Science in Religion with a concentration in NextGen Studies from Liberty University — a degree she earned specifically to understand and serve the next generation. She has served as a student ministry coach, small group leader, and content creator for NextGen Matters, a ministry devoted to equipping student ministry leaders across the country.

Chris is an ordained pastor through the United Brethren denomination and holds a Master of Divinity from Winebrenner Theological Seminary. He served as a military chaplain in the Ohio Army National Guard and has over seven years of vocational experience in children, youth, and family ministry. That training didn’t lead him to a traditional church staff position — it led him here, to Genoa, to this moment.

They see their preparation not as a set of credentials but as evidence of a God who was writing a story long before they could see it clearly.

How They Do Ministry

Chris and Sara believe that the most meaningful discipleship happens through authentic relationships built over time — not in perfectly crafted programs, but in conversations after practice, texts checking in on a hard week, meals around a table, and showing up when it matters most.

Their approach to ministry reflects this conviction: relational, not transactional. Discipleship, not just entertainment. Gospel-centered, not activity-driven.

They want Rise Up to be a place where students don’t just show up for an hour each week — they find a spiritual family that walks with them through middle school awkwardness, high school pressures, and the critical years of forming their identity in Christ.

A Family on Mission

Their five children aren’t watching from the sidelines. They’re growing up in a home where faith is lived out loud — where the door is open, where people are welcomed in, and where following Jesus is the organizing principle of everything.

Chris and Sara want to model for their own kids — and for every student who comes through Rise Up — that following Jesus isn’t boring, restrictive, or irrelevant. It’s the most adventurous, purposeful, joy-filled life possible. And it starts now, not later.

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” — Proverbs 22:6