Interim Pastor’s Update, 4/11/22
We Formed a Search Team, Now What?
You may have noticed the congregation has approved a slate of names for the Lead Pastor Search Team as ACC moves into the next stage of transition. This stage in some ways is the most exciting part of the transition because it means at the end of the search process, we will welcome our next pastor.
The Search Team will be working diligently on our behalf preparing the internal and external documents necessary in order to engage in the search process. They will represent us in their conversation with multiple candidates during the upcoming months. They will spend countless hours prayerfully considering the unique gifts of each candidate. Their decision is not to select one good candidate from the midst of many mediocre candidates. They will be required to choose a ‘good’ candidate from many other ‘good’ candidates. For this reason, we as a congregation would do well to include both the search process and the members of the Pastoral Search Team in our regular prayers.
As many times as I have served congregations going through a pastoral transition, I am increasingly convinced that the process of finding the right candidate is profoundly spiritual. Think about it, a group of people representing a congregation locate and present a candidate to the congregation. On the basis of a whirlwind weekend visit with the candidate, the congregation votes to invite them to become their pastor. When you think about it, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Yet, the preponderance of churches that engage in this process find the pastor God is preparing for them and they “live happily ever after.”
As we enter into the next stage of the transitional process, there is still more work to be done. and the closer we get to the calling of our next pastor; we will sense that God has prepared us for this new day of ministry. In the meantime, let’s continue to do the necessary work as a congregation in worship, discipleship, mission, and service that will become some of the essential practices of a healthy church that any pastoral candidate will be looking for.
With hope and anticipation,
Rev. Bradley J. Bergfalk, Interim Lead Pastor