Greetings from Pastor Steve

To all the saints in Christ Jesus… Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ… I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me.

The words above come from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. In many ways, this letter is my first “letter” to you, the faithful ones of Spring Creek United Church of Christ. Many of you probably wonder who I am and what makes me who I am. You may also wonder what will be my task as an intentional interim pastor. I will try as succinctly as possible to answer just a few of them.

First, I entered intentional interim ministry in 2011 after serving over twenty years as a settled pastor. I felt God calling me to this type of ministry at this point in my life, so I received training from the Interim Ministry Network. I am a member of that organization as well as being a part of the Association of Intentional Interim Pastors when I served previously in Illinois.

Second, my task is to listen to your stories and see where it is that God is leading you individually, and as a community of faith, in the months and years to come so at that appropriate time a new settled pastor will join you on that journey.

Third, I ask a lot of questions! Many you will be happy to answer them without hesitation, and maybe there will some that will cause you to take some time to respond. Either way, by asking the “right” questions, I am hoping they will help me to serve this community of faith in this time of transition so that Spring Creek will move forward to a new and exciting ministry in the future.

Blessings,

Pastor Steve