People of Hope:
Please excuse me sharing two messages this week!
After hosting Mission Gatherings, proposing and getting approved a new mission statement and guiding principles, and sending out and receiving responses on a survey, the Transition Team has completed the Ministry Site Profile (MSP), the paperwork sent to potential pastoral candidates. The MSP has been edited and approved by the council and is now officially submitted, which allows the synod office to begin discerning possible good pastoral matches for the Esperanza community. If you would like to read the MSP, please be in touch with me at [email protected].
The submission of the MSP means that the transition team can hang up their hat! We give thanks to God for the good work of Michelle Tinsley, Liz Farquhar, Paul Beeks, and Paul Wagner!
Per the Esperanza constitution, call committee members must be elected by the congregation, so please plan to join in a very brief congregational meeting directly following worship on Sunday, Sept. 10, to do so. We will simply remain seated in the sanctuary at the conclusion of worship to conduct the necessary business, of which the election of call committee members is the only agenda item. (Please also plan to stay after worship that day for a large-group service project in honor of God’s Work Our Hands Sunday, which is a national day of service for ELCA Lutherans!)
Once call committee members are elected, they will meet with Pastor Pat Reed, our transition coach, to begin the work of preparing for interviews and discerning who God has called to serve as Esperanza’s next pastor. Due to boundary issues, it is inappropriate for me to meet with the call committee, but Pastor Pat will be walking alongside the committee throughout the process. For the health of the call process, interim pastors and other staff are always discouraged from participating in the call process, so this is not a boundary specific to our situation.
Please note: I have dearly enjoyed serving Esperanza as interim pastor, but my role is interim pastor. I am not a candidate for the permanent call but am simply called to help the Esperanza community heal and move forward. Do not fear! God is calling a pastor to serve here. I invite you — if you have not been doing so already — to pray regularly for our communal discernment and in particular the call committee. A perfect pastor will not be available. 😉 But the person whom God is calling to serve here will be available!
If you have questions about the call process, please reach out to me or Jim Gisselquist.
Peace to each of you,
Pastor Sarah