Following your vote to enter into becoming a redevelopment congregation the Synod will begin considering the qualities necessary for your next pastor. I want to share what a friend of mine sent me an email that describes the typical Church staff.
THE CHURCH STAFF:
Pastor: Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. More powerful than a locomotive; Faster than a speeding bullet; Walks on water, gives policies to God.
Music Director: Clears a Kid’s playhouse with a running start. Loses train of thought; Can fire a speeding bullet; Swims well, Occasionally hears God.
Council President: Runs into small buildings; Recognizes locomotive two out of three times; Used squirt gun in college; Knows how to use water fountain; Mumbles to himself.
Church Secretary: Lets you know when you can USE the building; Makes trains run on time; Prints speeding bulletins; Freezes water with a single glance so pastor CAN walk on it; When God speaks she says, “May I ask who’s calling?”
Obviously you know that the Synod will not be able to find a pastor for you like the one described above. I certainly was not that kind of pastor. But I trust that the person God is calling to respond to your need is on the way.
Obviously our time together was not what any of us anticipated. Instead of spending time together and working together to prepare for new leadership we wound up spending time apart, wondering what would happen next. I spent time in the scriptures preparing messages and recording and sending them out into youtubeiverse. You spent time watching and listening and observing the sacrament of communion in your house slippers.
One of the objectives of an interim pastor is to “clear the palate.” It is to expose the congregation to a different style of leadership, and bring a different perspective to your ministry. Even though we haven’t been able to spend time together in person we have still spent time. It has been almost a year since Pastor Scott, your pastor of over 15 years retired. You have had two different pastors since that time, Pastor Bob Bryan and me. And now you are ready to welcome a new pastor.
There is a song that asks a question. The question is, “Will the circle be unbroken?” It also answers the question with “There’s a better home a waitin’ in the sky Lord, in the sky.”
As I begin another new chapter as an interim pastor at Woodforest Presbyterian Church in the Channelview area of East Houston, I don’t think I will have much opportunity to come to Magnolia. But we have a promise from Jesus that he has gone to prepare a place for us so that where he is we shall be also. (John 14.1-3). In that sense I will close my last Faith Lift with a blessing from another song that I have been using during this time of separation- “God be with you….till we meet again.”
Pastor Gill
Joyful Life Lutheran Church 