Lisa Mele, the wife of Craig Mele, pastor of Maple View Baptist Church, died on March 2 at her home. She was 48.
Lisa served alongside her husband ministering to the church family, visiting people in the hospital, crying with the bereaved, and rejoicing with those who were happy. She was known for her tireless energy, bubbly personality, her humor, and infectious laughter, but mostly for her love for people, and her passion to reach the lost for Jesus.
“She was truly happy in missions,” Craig Mele said. She ministered to those all around her, as well as being faithful in ministering to and caring for her own family, he said.
Craig said Lisa befriended Hindu and Muslim families. She visited the local Mosque. Lisa enjoying getting to know people, learning about their cultures, helping them as she could. One Muslim man told Craig, “She was an angel to our family.”
Craig said, “People may have rejected Jesus, but they loved Lisa.”
God had called Lisa to minister to people from Southeast Asia and she followed that calling, founding the South Asian Fellowship and Activity Center in partnership with Maple View Baptist Church, the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware and with the North American Mission Board. (Read about this ministry in BaptistLIFE) Lisa began to intentionally work as an assistant teaching English as a Second Language Class at a local community college to build bridges with people from other ethnicities. She met with women of different cultures individually for Bible studies and enjoyed getting to know them and sharing her love of Christ with them.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Nancy Urbancik. She is survived by Craig, their son Daniel, her father, George Frank Urbancik and her in-laws, Dominick and Shirley Mele; and sister-in-law, Donna (Jon) Withrow.
Visitation will be on Friday, March 9, 2018, from 2-4 and 7-9 pm at McComas Funeral Home, 1317 Cokesbury Road, Abingdon, MD 21009. and on Saturday, March 10 from 10-10:45 am at Bel Forest Baptist Church, Bel Air, MD at which time the service will follow. Interment will take place at Bel Air Memorial Gardens in Bel Air. Memorial Contributions may be made to “Scholarship Fund” at Maple View Baptist Church, 1600 Singer Road, Joppa, MD, 21085. Condolences may be left on the guestbook at mccomasfuneralhome.com.