Today at church after a short sermon from our Pastor, which was rare, he usually delivers a longer sermon that that. He got up and started to talk to the congregation. Immediately my mind started thinking, "This is not an "I'm staying speech." No, our Pastor wasn't going to announce that he had signed a new 10 year contract like Bill Self. He was announcing that he was stepping down.
He explained that he had a new calling to become a teacher. Also that he had aging parents to consider and his grandchildren.
It was a shock and I was at a loss for words. We had seen this many times before. Back in 1995, Weldon Martens (my first pastor at our church) resigned after being here for at least 10 years or so. Then we had an interim pastor for a year while selections for a new pastor were talked about throughout that year. Then Royce V., came to PV in 1996. Well then things happened (that I care not to bring up again) and we left for another church in another town. We stayed there for a while until 3 years ago. By that time, Pastor Bob was leading PV. I met him through a Youth Friends Meeting. It was his first year to be in that group and I ended up not participating as a Youth Friend that year. Well apparently he took to it right away and therefore, he is now called to become a teacher.
My mind started thinking about the processes that the church goes through to find a new pastor. When changes occur either the church falls apart or stays together. Some people may feel hurt or betrayed when a change like this happens. But this is just life. People want to pursue other careers or feel more comfortable doing other things. We have to let them go. It is hard. But we as a church must go on.
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I'm still not quite sure how I feel about this. I guess I need to process it for a while before I share my feelings. It was definitely a shock!
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