White smoke
Posted in Church by RB on November 2nd, 2007 It was just under a year ago now that the pastor of our church announced his intentions to move on to another line of ministry. My wife commented at the time that I would do well on the search committee and that I would probably get recruited. I told her she was crazy.
A couple of month later one of our elders gave me a call, and my wife turned out to be right. At first I refused, but then I allowed them to put my name on the ballot. On the one hand, I didn’t want any part of it. I knew it would be a major time suck. On the other hand, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had some experience that might help our committee out. I’ve been discipled by one of the best communicators in the country, and I was later a staff member at his church (granted, I was a lowly staff member, but I saw how the sausage is made, so to speak). I’ve endured an ugly church split, and I was a member at another church when the founding pastor was replaced and things didn’t turn out so well. I thought these experiences might turn out to be valuable, and I was right. However, as it turned out, my most important experience turned out to be prayer. Finding the right pastor isn’t about what you know, it’s about finding who God is calling to fill that role; we were just a part of the process.
This past Tuesday night our committee of ten people met again. It had been over ten months since our first meeting, but we finally held our last vote. We will be announcing his name on Sunday, and the congregation will have a chance to meet him next weekend. It’s then up to them to either accept him or tell us to start over. But may also mean electing a new committee, as we’re exhausted.
I’m very excited. The man we’ve found thoroughly fits what the committee has been looking for, and I think he’ll do an excellent job. I’m looking forward to getting to know him and to learning from him. I’m also looking forward to getting a night a week back. I’ve learned a lot in this process, and God has done some amazing things through it. But I hope I’m never asked to serve like this again - I’m tired.
