Update from Board Secretary Don Rodden

Transition is primarily about doing two things well.  It’s about continuing to follow the Lord and ministering to each other and our communities. And it’s a process of diligently seeking a new lead pastor. As a board we are incredibly thankful to the Lord for the faithfulness of our pastoral staff, directors, staff members, and volunteers for their love and dedication. Sincere and ongoing thanks to each and every one of you.

As we indicated in our March update, our next steps were to develop a profile of desired candidate attributes, which was guided primarily by the congregational survey in which you participated. Following that, Dr. Geoff Kunselman, our District Superintendent, identified several prospective candidates and reviewed them with us for consideration. From those, the list was narrowed down to three current candidates. First interviews of these candidates will begin the week of May 27th.

Generally, we would expect to invite candidates for multiple interviews over a two-to-three-month period of time. The most optimistic outcome would be a narrowing of the candidates to a final selection from these three. This sometimes happens, but there are also times when none of the candidates lead to a pastoral placement based on their sense of calling or ours, and we would continue to search and interview other prospective pastors.

Through Geoff’s leadership, we are experiencing a strong sense of unity of Spirit and a quiet confidence that we will collectively hear what the Lord is saying to us throughout this entire process.

We know that many, many people are joining in ongoing prayer to the Father on our body’s behalf, for which we are deeply grateful. The meditation earlier this week in our prayer journals was the Apostle Paul’s admonition, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12). As we seek new spiritual leadership, we experience the joy that comes from the hope of who and what is coming! And though this is somewhat a minor affliction, we demonstrate our faith through patience and continue faithfully in prayer, together.

Together. What a powerful word when there is unity of Spirit and purpose. And that is who we are and how we are journeying through this… together.

Blessings!