A Time of Transition

Update on Pastoral Transition Process

“...if your memories are bigger than your dreams, you have already begun to die.”

Howard Hendricks, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary

Dear Friends of Foothill,Since Jim's retirement is fast approaching, it's time to provide you with a detailed update onthe process of transitioning to new pastoral leadership. There are three main topics that willbe covered in this update:

1. o Transition Team & Church Profile
2. o Pastoral Search Committee
3. o Interim Pastoral Leadership

Transition Team

The team is continuing to process data from the survey of the congregation. The team will beworking on completing a draft over the holidays. These results will be used to formulate the church profile. This document is the prerequisite for initiating the pastoral search process.The survey will be submitted to the Pacific Southwest Conference early in January. The survey results reflect the broad and diverse demographics of the congregation. The Transition Team will make the results available when complete.

Pastoral Search Process

The Foothill Executive Committee (EC) has delegated to the Nominating Committee (NC)the identification of candidate church members for the Pastoral Search Committee (PSC). As you may recall the members of the Transition Team were appointed by the ExecutiveCommittee to get that team up and running quickly. However, for the important work ofsearching for a new pastor, the EC wants to involve the congregation as much as possible anddelegate to existing groups key decisions. The Nominating Committee will identify churchmembers for the PSC. The NC has been tasked to find a balance for the PSC of different agegroups, long-time vs. new members, gender, and singles, couples & families. Candidates for the PSC will be evaluated in light of need to achieve a balanced team. The process foridentifying potential PSC candidates will be left to the discretion of the NC but may includeasking the congregation at large to nominate folks they feel would be good candidates for thePSC, asking for volunteers, etc. Members of the Nominating Committee itself, elected Boardmembers, and at-large membership will all be eligible to serve on the PSC.

Candidates for the Pastoral Search Committee will be approved by vote of the membership.The slate prepared by the NC will be voted on as a group rather than as individual candidates.The Nominating Committee consists of elected members: Kester Fong, Jackie Ince, BrendaBrown; and Board representatives: Betty Norlander (Christian Ed), Marian Ecklund(Deacons), Renee Pech (Deaconesses), M.J. Lykke (Trustees).

Role and Identification of Interim Pastor(s)

Leaders in the Pacific Southwest Conference (PSWC) advise churches to go slow intransitioning to a new pastor; especially when that pastor has been with a congregation for anextended number of years like Jim Gaderlund. The longer a pastor has been serving acongregation, the more time will be needed for successful transition. Alan Forsman,Leadership & Congregational Coach for the Conference, will be present at our January 17thSemi-Annual Congregational Meeting to provide background and rationale for this approach.He'll also walk us through the Pastoral Search process and will field questions from thecongregation. In his Resource Notebook for Interim Ministry, Leigh Earley suggests threebasic ways a church may view the interim period between pastors. Each of these reflects a distinct concept of the church's ministry during the interim.

First, the interim time may be viewed as a time to be moved through as quickly as possibleso that the church can get on to its real future. In its extreme this view tends to think of the church as being the pastor. It views the church's ministry as being the pastor or what thepastor does. It views the laity as being served by the pastor or following the direction of thepastor. In this view, power rests in the hands of the pastor or in the hands of the pastor and afew key leaders.Second, others view the interim period as a time to be tolerated, but not to be prolonged anylonger than necessary. In its extreme, this view tends to see the church as the fellowship andthe pastor as a key part of that fellowship. It views the church's ministry as the pastor, butthere is some room for the laity. This view tends to see the laity as doing the work of thechurch when no pastor is here to lead. The pastor shares power with the laity. When there is no pastor, power is unevenly distributed to lay leaders who pick up these responsibilitiestemporarily.Third, others see the interim time as offering opportunities for growth and change that willstrengthen the congregation in the long run. They see the interim time as providingopportunities that will greatly benefit a church as it moves into the future. In its extreme this view tends to see the church as the people of God. The church's ministry is seen as what thechurch does, with the pastor being only part of that total ministry. The laity is partners inministry with one another and with the pastor, with each being a source of creativity andenergy for the church's life and outreach. Power is shared by the pastor and the laity; bothleaders and non-leaders. These basic ways of viewing the interim period and their differences in relation toapproaching the ministry of the church are significant.

In the August issue of the Covenant Companion, there is an interesting article entitled “BeingIntentional About the Interim.” It is recommended reading though not everything in thearticle may apply to Foothill. Hardcopies of this article and one other will be available in thenarthex. You can find it on the web at: http://www.covchurch.org/companion/articles/2009-august-being-intentional-about-theinterim Based on the advice from the Conference, the EC feels that the most likely scenario forFoothill is to have multiple, short-term (3-6 months) interim pastors. Jim's final Sunday inthe pulpit will be February 14th just prior to Lent. To provide pastoral continuity through thiscelebratory season of the church calendar, the first interim will serve at least from beginningof Lent through Easter.

Church leadership has taken the following steps toward identification of interim pastor(s): 1.Contact with the Pacific Southwest Conference was initiated on November 2. During theSunday service on December 20th, Brian Smith requested names of potential interimcandidates from congregation (folks they know who may be suitable). Brian is still collectingnames so please feel free to send him contact information. The Executive Committee will select all interim pastor(s) with counsel from PSWC.

As we embark on the important and hard work in the days ahead, let us heed the words of thehymn “Sing of Everlasting Kindness” (#647, The Covenant Hymnal: A Worshipbook):“Called to tasks that seem unending, called to walk a path untrod, called to pass throughunknown perils, called to trust you, Lord our God. Grant us faith and hope and courage,though the way we do not know; lead us, love us, guide, support us, we will follow where yougo.”

In His Service,

Brian Smith, Chair, and Mark Liedstrand, Vice-Chair

Semi-Annual Congregational Meeting January 17th, 2010 at 5:30 p.m.

Plan on attending this meeting. There will be important decisions to be made concerning thepastoral transition. Also, Alan Forsman, our advisor from the PSWC will be present to givean overview of the process and answer questions.

Hail and Farewell

We hope to see you on Saturday, February 13th at 5:30 p.m. for our Farewell Celebration for Pastor Jim and Pam Gaderlund. Let us show our appreciation for all they have done!

THANK YOU! Pam and I hope that you had a blessed holiday season and we want toexpress our thanks for your many expressions of kindness to us during the year and in thisChristmas season. May the coming of our Savior fill your lives to overflowing.

Pastor Jim & Pam Gaderlund

 

Christmas Thanks! Many thanks to Mary Jane Lykke and her team for leading us in ourChristmas Caring Project. Again this year, the social workers were overwhelmed by yourgenerosity.

And to Genesis small group who provided the core of the team which decorated the sanctuaryfor Advent and Christmas.

And to Ona Avent and to our deaconesses who organized and prepared a wonderful SantaLucia smorgasbord on December 13th.

And to Marilyn Smith on flute, Anne Dong on violin and Barbara Tom on keyboards whowere the week to week foundation of much beautiful Advent and Christmas music.

 

from Club Chretien Francophone

Dear Pastor Gaderlund and FCC Congregation, Have a blessed Christmas worshipping as afamily the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, renewing each heart and reaching out to thevisitors. We appreciate your generosity in letting us use the facilities of FCC for our Frenchministry. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.