March 23, 2025 Update
Pastor Nominating Committee Announcement March 23, 2025
Good morning. I am Bill Dodge, a member of the Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC).
1. Thanks for support, prayers, encouragement and patience. Those of you who were here when Bill Welch, our first pastor, left after 17 years – will remember it took nearly 2 years to find Rick Lemberg to be our next pastor. He was worth the wait.
2. Those of you who were here last Sunday after church at the congregational meeting, might remember Jason’s explanation about how things work in ECO Presbyterian churches.
Annual vs Special congregational meetings – and why the difference.
3. Same vein – it is our elected Session members who actually govern our church, not the pastor. In this way, the Presbyterian Church runs similarly to our representative democracy. Elected leaders who make decisions and act with representative authority.
4. We, the PNC, are an elected committee given a very specific task – to seek and discern God’s leading and will through the process of finding the next individual who will serve as the lead/senior pastor of our church.
We are looking to the Holy Spirit for leading as we want God to direct us; we, very intentionally, do not seek our own will – or the will of the congregation, but God’s will. If we do not do so, we risk bringing the wrong person to serve as our pastor. It’s essential for all of us to recognize that we need to submit our individual wills to that of our Lord.
I think it might be helpful to briefly describe the basic process we are going through with each candidate in our search – each step, of which, is guided by prayer and discussion among all 10 of us:
We read through each application and the associated information that each applicant provides us.
We listen to sermons preached by each person. We may, at that point, decide that the applicant isn’t a good fit for our church. If so, we thank that person for applying and let him/her know that we have decided not to offer a position at that time. However, if we agree to continue the process, we interview that individual. Based on that interview we may decide to not go any farther with the candidate.
If, after the initial interview, we agree to further pursue this person, we contact at least 3 references provided by the applicant, and we conduct a second interview – which both helps us to better know the person and his/her qualifications, as well as gives that applicant an opportunity to learn more about our church and community.
Once again, through discussion, evaluation and prayer, a decision is made by the committee to either go further in the process or to let him/her know that we have decided not to offer a position at that time.
Jason has been our associate pastor, is now serving as our interim pastor – and, who, by the way, is doing an excellent job in that role (we are so grateful for your leadership during this transitional time, Jason!). He has gone through the application process exactly as every other applicant. And in early December of last year (2024), after our second interview with him – and after discussion, reflection and prayer, our committee did not feel lead by the Lord to select him to be our senior pastor at that time. We informed him of our decision which he graciously accepted. Jason’s heart is that he wants to be God’s person in God’s place. I think we are all seeing the fruit of His attitude and service right now as we go through this challenging time.
We continue to need your prayers and patience as we endeavor to fulfill our responsibility to you and to God. In fact, we will be gathering up front over in the corner after church to pray for God’s continued guidance, and invite you to join us.
Through all this process we are striving to do our job in a manner that honors our Lord, protects individuals’ privacy and maintains confidentiality. Therefore, we again deeply appreciate your prayers, your support, your patience and your trust.
Please feel free to email us, or talk to us about what we’re doing.
Thank you very much.