Dear Friends,
BY ANY CALCULATION the overall bringing about of the plan of God, the will of God, is not designed to make us comfortable. That is nearly a truism for people of the Bible, Abraham and Sarah and their long-delayed promise of a child; Moses and his fall from prince in Egypt to a raggedy shepherd – leader; Jonah, Jeremiah, Ruth, Mary, disappointment for all. And our Lord himself, it doesn’t all work out as planned, thought, hoped.
A year and a half ago we embarked on a new plan for pastoral leadership in our church. The plan was well-thought-out, and much effort was given to it by everyone. Pastor Labonte and I were steadily committed to it, and we felt your support. Now, for good reasons we need to revise the plan. Deborah has felt the urgency of a call to serve a church on her own. I am far from ready to bring my ministry to an end (that day will come, and I believe we can plan for that together as congregation and pastor, just not quite yet!) For now, we will be making some unforeseen changes, mostly back to my being full-time.
In all of this I express my appreciation to Deborah for the ministry she has had among us and the assistance she has provided me. I thank you the congregation for making a serious and fully-supported attempt. It was a good experiment for us to try. These new changes for us all mean not set-back, not loss, just new paths for how God is leading us on. God always has bright promises ahead.
I see similar understanding in our Capital Campaign. Many, many of you have been providing excellent leadership. Results are astounding. Careful and complete information is being gathered about how to address handicap accessibility. The hours of devoted service for the well-being of the church and our people are inspiring.
Some of our own church families have said they cannot participate at this time. Some who cannot contribute financially have contributed in other ways; wonderful. I hear of excellent visits with persons in our church family who cannot pledge now, demonstrating this whole campaign is not just about money, not at all. I had one of those visits myself; it was the finest of pastoral conversations with one of you.
So, our plans, our designs do not always go as planned; it turns out they go forward even better than we ever could have devised ourselves. And that was true in Bible times as it is true today. We must work at it, we must make our plans, our attempts, our tries; and then cast them mightily in the hands of One who “gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist”. Take a look, Romans, Chapter 4.
Sincerely,
Pastor Condon
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