The Spiritual Leadership Team (SLT) is planning to hire a transitional pastor who has specialized training to help lead our congregation through the upcoming pastoral transitions. These transitions include the conclusion of Marilyn’s service with us, the arrival of Joanne later in the summer, and the change in Dan’s level of employment from 85% to 50% on June 1. The Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference to which we belong has a number of these trained transitional pastors. Normally the governing board of the church (in our case, the SLT) hires this person for a stated length of time, usually no longer than 18-24 months, but sometimes for a shorter length of time. This person is not eligible to become the next long-term pastor, but only works for the designated transitional period.
Meanwhile, we will also form another pastoral search committee to look for a full-time pastor who will do most of the work that Marilyn has been doing. The people on this search committee will be different than the people who served on the search committee which recommended Joanne. We hope that this full-time pastor can begin working with us soon after the transitional pastor finishes. We will provide you with more details when we know more. We welcome your prayers.
–The SLT