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June 2008 Pastoral Letter

 
Dear Members and Friends,

I trust that your summer season is underway, and wherever you are you can sense the Lord’s presence and blessings with you and your family. It’s always hard for a pastor to say “farewell” to his beloved friends in Christ (even if that separation is just for a few months). But it’s much easier because I know that the Lord goes with you.

Things are noticeably slower here in southwest Florida now, but important things continue to happen at First Church. Dan Oedy, Amanda Zaengle and their volunteer staff are preparing for a big Vacation Bible School later in June. Sunday morning attendance through May has continued to be very strong. Planning for our building renovations is moving forward quickly (as the architect is preparing plans for submittal to Lee County to get the required permits). In our community, we keep experiencing the “sticker shock” of gas at $3.95 a gallon; meanwhile we are waiting (and praying) for the much-needed rains of the summer season to come and replenish our lakes and water tables.

One of the greatest blessings of my pastoral ministry here at First Church is the joy of working with such a great team of dedicated professionals. I had the privilege of traveling to Pennsylvania in late May to witness Pastor Paul Fahnestock’s graduation with the degree of Doctor of Ministry. This is the highest honor a pastor can receive, and we are all so proud of “Dr. Paul.” Thanks to so many of you who made contributions to a love gift for him. To date we have received over $8000! We will continue to receive gifts and cards/letters of congratulation and appreciation for Paul over the next week, and will present them all to him at a reception in his honor on Sunday afternoon, June 8.

The pastoral ministry of our congregation has also been greatly enriched by Pastor Steven Grant. Steven has been working with us part-time for nearly three years as a Parish Associate (this means that he is an employee of the Session). We have requested, and our local Presbytery has agreed, to make our relationship with Steven full-time and permanent. Therefore, over the next several months, we will be following the detailed Presbyterian process to create a new Associate Pastor position. A special congregational meeting will be held in late June, an “Associate Pastor Nominating Committee” will be elected, all the proper paperwork will be completed, and then sometime this fall we hope to have a special meeting to extend a formal call to Steven. Once he is officially installed, Steven’s relationship with our church will be secure.

The Session has also voted to create a new part-time staff position as “Book Center Coordinator,” in anticipation of our renovations to the current library that will expand the space available and allow us to create a retail book store attached to the library. I’ll be sharing more with you next month about this position and our vision for putting great Christian literature and resources into the hands of our congregation.

I hope that you are visiting our church website to keep in touch with us. I commend to you the written messages presented from our pulpit weekly — including Dan Oedy’s sermon on May 18, To Walk As He Did. We hope to soon be making available through the website the audio of our Sunday messages, as well, for those who would rather listen than read.

As always, I would love to hear from you about your summer experiences. And if you have any needs or prayer concerns for yourself or someone you love that you would like to share with your southern church, just reply to me by email or call the church office.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Doug Pratt