AND THEN THERE WAS ONE

I would like to devote this article to our "quest" to Call an Associate Pastor.  Let me first remind you of some of the major responsibilities that would be his: 

    1) to begin a third service that would focus on reaching out to the un-churched and de-churched especially in the age range of 40 years and younger.  He would also be the primary pastor to that group.

    2) to lead Messiah in her over-all outreach ministry, helping her members think outreach by connecting with those outside the church through word and deed.

    3) to coordinate Messiah's small group ministry - BASIC - and to expand it. 

    4) to coordinate Messiah's assimilation-of-new-members ministry; that is, to help Messiah value and care for her new members in the first 6 months of their joining so that they come to feel Messiah is their "family." 

So, where are we in the quest to discern whom God has chosen to accomplish these ministry tasks?

Back in the fall, Messiah, having developed a ministry description through the Board of Elders and the Board of Vision and Planning,

    1) requested names from Messiah members of pastoral candidates who could meet the needs of that description.  Messiah members submitted 13 names of men for the candidate list.

    2) Those names were then forwarded to the President of the Southeastern District, Jon Diefenthaler, who acknowledged receipt of the list along with our congregational profile on October 16, 2007. 

    3) President Diefenthaler gathered and compiled information on the 13 candidates we submitted.  Of those 13, 2 were removed from the list because information was never received and 6 others were removed by the president for other reasons.  At the same time, the president added another 4 names to the list so that now the list had 9 candidates.

   4) Circuit Counselor Rev. William Gittner received that list and began calling each candidate to determine which of them were open to receiving a Call.  Two of the 9 said that they could not entertain a Call at this time for various reasons. 

    5) The list of now 7 candidates was turned over to Messiah's Call Committee.  Their task was to evaluate the material given on each candidate and determine who the best candidates were for the ministry, seeking to trim the list down to 2 or 3 for an on-site interview.  The committee met on January 16th and 23rd.  The committee felt that 3 of the candidates were not suitable which left a list of 4.

    6) The Call Committee decided to do a telephone interview on each of the remaining four and drew up a list of questions for each.  Committee Chairman, Mike Train, called each of the 4 in order to set up the phone interviews.  Two of the Candidates declined to have a phone interview and withdrew from the process for various reasons.  A phone interview was conducted with the remaining two on February 2nd.

    7) Since the initial goal of the Call Committee was to have an on-site interview with 2 or 3 of the 4 candidates they felt could fit the ministry description, both of the 2 remaining candidates were asked about coming for an on-site interview.  One of the candidates, Robert Harbin, said that he would not come without first receiving a Call.  The other candidate, Daniel Hawkins, was willing to come prior to receiving a Call.  Since the committee favored Daniel Hawkins and believes that he will be perfect for the Associate Pastor position, the committee is now in the process of arranging a time for him to visit.  This will take place sometime in May.

I encourage all of you to keep this in your prayers.  I believe that our one remaining candidate is perfect for the Associate Pastor position.  And although I would have preferred to present to the congregation a list of at least 2 or 3 to choose from, it appears to me that God has done our work for us in the choosing.  If you have any questions about this process, or the reasons some candidates dropped off the list, or anything else, please don't hesitate to contact me.