Josh Fitterling went to college about an hour’s drive west of the Mohrsville, Pennsylvania dairy farm where he grew up. The seminary where he went on to study was about an hour’s drive south of the farm.

His small town upbringing, including attending Salem Belleman’s Church, a United Church of Christ in Mohrsville, helped set him on a path to the pastor’s job at First Congregational Church of Wiscasset UCC.

The church made its decision Sunday, following a two-year search. Fitterling, 26, starts March 1.

“I’m thrilled,” he said Monday. “I’m excited for what March 1 will bring.” From what he’s learned so far about Wiscasset and the church, they’re what he was looking for: A small town and a welcoming congregation. Parish ministry, more than others, appeals to him because it serves one group over many years, he said. “I love forming relationships, and I love the idea of being able to nurture relationships over an extended period of time. It’s something that really feeds me and that I feel called to. So I think that was a big piece of that pull.”

The call to ministry dates to his teen years. He said a pastor saw it in him and gave him his start in leading worship. “It started out by just assisting with worship occasionally and before long, I was preaching, and before long, I was one of the go-to’s to fill in and preach when he was on vacation.” But he’d always wanted to teach, so he thought he would go into ministry later, as a second career. That’s becoming more common, Fitterling said.

In the student-teaching semester of his senior year at Pennsylvania’s Lebanon Valley College, he realized that being a public school math teacher was not for him. “It was at that time that I gave myself fully over to this idea that maybe ministry is where I’m supposed to go now, rather than pushing it off.” He finished his bachelor of science degree in mathematics and then got his master of divinity degree at Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Theological Seminary.

Since he first sought the Wiscasset job, Fitterling has learned more about the congregation and been struck by its “outward focus,” from fundraising at Summerfest for community groups to the involvement in the town’s tree-lighting he attended Saturday night.  “It’s really a church of the community and a church for the community. I’m excited by the energy around that and hopefully that energy will just build, and keep carrying us forward.”

Energy was also one of the words congregation member Sarah Whitfield, head of the search committee, used to describe Fitterling in a phone interview Tuesday. Whitfield said the committee chose Fitterling among 180 candidates. “Josh has a lot of energy and compassion and I think that really comes through when he speaks ... He has poise far past his age, but a very youthful energy that we were looking for,” she added.

Staying for an advent workshop after he met with the congregation Sunday showed his sense of commitment, she said. “And it felt like he’d been (with the church) a long time. We’re extremely excited about Josh.” They haven’t only found a minister, they have gained a community member, she said.

Peter Heinricks is serving as the church’s bridge minister, between newly retired interim minister Susan Craig and Fitterling. And Whitfield, a Summerfest volunteer since childhood, said the church has taken the unusual step of having her perform December services because she is considering going into ministry.

Fitterling, meanwhile, is back in Braintree, Massachusetts, where he and partner Christopher Kent live. The coming months will bring more visits north to look for a place to rent in or near Wiscasset. Once here, Fitterling plans to get in his workouts at the Wiscasset Community Center, one of the places he plans to frequent to get to know the town. He visited Ames True Value Supply on Saturday when it held its Christmas event and he could feel the sense of community there, as well as at the night’s tree-lighting on the Wiscasset Common.

He said the move will take him even further from his Pennsylvania hometown than his current service as a pastoral resident at Wellesley Village Church in Massachusetts; but he wants to be here for many years, setting down roots, serving the congregation and seeing the state. He likes to take drives, and there’s all of Maine to explore, he said.