It was revealed in a letter to church members written by the ‘interm pastor’ that he will be stepping down as ‘interm pastor’ at the end of November no matter how the congregational vote for the candidate Senior Pastor turns out (it appears highly likely that the majority of the congregation will vote to affirm the calling of the Senior Pastor candidate under nomination).
I loved the intern pastor. However, I felt that he was ready to go back home and enjoy retirement with his wife in his final years on Earth and nurse his declining health.
Based on this fact, it appears that if the candidate Senior Pastor is called. He would probably start in January-February 2007 because of both the Advent season (who wants to move during the holiday season) and also because the church’s book of order requires a 30 day time period between the stepping down of one pastor and the starting date of the new pastor.
Throughout this past week, all I saw from congregants whether it was at church, running into some at a store, etc. sighs of relief, smiles, and the lessening of tensions for the feeling was that the right man has been called and when voted in by the congregation, we go into the future as a church doing what the church is called to do.
