Could It Be True?

Last Wednesday we received some crazy exciting news. In our church's weekly email they said that the Pastor Search Committee had an update and to be sure to attend church on Sunday. Intown's former pastor, Scot Sherman, left Intown for a church in San Fran almost 2 years ago. Ever since that time the committee has been working hard to try to find a good fit for our new senior pastor. Though Dave and I were in Germany for the first year of the search, we have definitely felt the weight of not having a senior pastor for the past 7 months.

After receiving the email I started screaming. Dave was in the bathroom washing Hadleigh, so he was a bit upset at my outburst. I started yelling "we have a pastor!" And then I got a little nervous...surely they wouldn't tell us they have an update and to come to church only to say they are continuing to search! That would be too cruel.

Dave was in Chicago this past weekend learning how to orally sedate people (if you are ever having drinks with him beware...he might slip you a pill and then say- open wide!), so he missed the announcement on Sunday. I was thrilled to find out that indeed the search committee had a recommendation to make. The final candidate will come and preach this Sunday and then we will have a congregational vote to finalize the deal. If all goes well he should be here in August.

The search committee asked the members to do several things this week in preparation for the weekend. They gave us a handout that gave some information about the candidate. They also encouraged us to be praying for clarity. As well they asked us to read Intown's Philiosphy of Ministry. So, taking my responsibilities as a member very seriously, and because I have a vested interest in making sure this is the right dude for the job, I took a look at the document this morning. http://www.intown.org/Portals/0/Documents/Philosophy%20of%20Ministry.pdf You can check it out if you want.

I was taking to my fam last night and started getting a little nervous about the new dude. I thought about what I would do if he decided we shouldn't have communion every week, but that it should be once a month...or worse...once a quarter! The good news is that after reading the philosophy of ministry I felt a ton better, that the new dude would know that our church is "historically rooted, theologically driven and contextualized". You can't take away communion from a historically rooted church. Good news for me. I think that all the rest will all work out. =)

Overall I am excited. I impressed with the document I read this morning and it made me more excited than ever about what is ahead for Intown. While we were in Germany God brought the right man at the right time to be the head Chaplain for Baumholder. CH Woodbery was exactly who we needed as our pastor during the deployment, and I thank the Lord all the time that he brought Woodbery to our chapel. I know that the Lord will do the same for Intown. He won't be perfect and it will still be super messy, but it will be the right man at the right time.