We have a new pastor!!

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be able to write those words! As many of you know, our former pastor retired almost two years ago. He was the founding pastor of our church and the only pastor Robert and I have known in our adult lives. We both joined our current church when we came here for college and met each other there. Our former pastor married us, visited us at the hospital when our babies were born, dedicated our children, baptized Kenna, preached us countless sermons and gave us much wise counsel. So, his retirement has been a difficult transition for us. During this transition we have had two interim preachers and God has definitely used them to accomplish His purposes in the life of our church, but it's not the same as having a full-time permanent pastor.

About eighteen months ago, Robert was elected by our church along with eight other members to serve on a Pastor Search Committee. With few exceptions, they have met every Monday night for 2, 3, and sometimes 4 hours at a time. In between meetings they have spent countless hours working on church surveys, reviewing resumes, listening to sermons, making site visits and interviewing candidates. It has been a long, time-consuming, and often stressful journey. But the Lord has honored their dedication and sacrifices and has brought us an amazing couple to serve in our church, Bruce and Donna Troy:


Bruce and Donna came to our church this weekend in view of a call. There were many opportunities over the weekend for different segments of our congregation to meet them. I was able to attend several of the functions and it was so neat to watch people meet them and see the excitement building over the weekend. People's positive reactions and comments were confirmation of what Robert and the rest of the committee already knew - God has called Bruce and Donna to our church. They are both wonderful people who love and serve our God and love His people. God's direction and presence was so apparent this weekend. A couple of weeks ago in my "Thankful Thursday" post I wrote that I was thankful that God gives us what we need and not what we deserve. This is the situation I was referring to. I had met Bruce and Donna for the first time that previous weekend. God has shown us abundant grace in bringing us just what we need, and not what we deserve. I can't wait to see what God does in and through us under their leadership.

Robert tells me that during the interview process, Bruce related the process to dating, and at the end of their third, very long interview said something to the effect of, "It's time. We need to either break up or get married!" Well, last night at a called business meeting, our church voted with an overwhelming majority (94%) to call Bruce as our Senior Pastor - and he and Donna accepted the call!! They came back to the church to accept in person and after the meeting Robert and I slipped out to the parking lot to do a little decoration on their car:

This has been a rather lengthy post. I tend to use a lot of words when I'm excited, so I guess all these words are a testament to my excitement! I can wholeheartedly claim Psalm 126:3 "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."

Brother Bruce, if you've finally found my blog and are reading this, know that we are eagerly anticipating you and Donna joining our family. And we are praying for you and your current congregation during this transition. Oh, and the shoe polish thing was all Robert's idea!