Message From Our Interim Pastor

A Message from Our Interim Pastor

WHAT IS AN "INTERIM PASTOR" AND HOW CAN HE HELP US HERE AT BETHANY?
My name is Pastor David Johnson.  When it came time to retire from regular parish ministry, I trained to help congregations with the finding and calling of the new Pastor.  I work for you in partnership with our Synod Office in Rice Lake.

SO, WHAT DO WE DO?

We spend a few weeks remembering the Pastor who has left us.  Pastor Paul served us well, and we are sad.  We are also a little frightened!  "What now?"

First of all I am here to see to it that we have the ministry.  I bring the experience of five different parishes and seven successful interim assignments.  My first job is to see to the basic ministry of Bethany congregation.  I will get to know you and, if the past rings true, will come to love you.  I still get newsletters from all my interims.  I will be a different pastor from Pastor Paul, but I hope I will serve you well

Second, we will ask ourselves some basic questions.  We will do this by looking at our history and our past ministry.  We will need to have the thoughts of people who have been here at Bethany for a long time and of our new people.  From you we will get a picture of where we have been and what we can do.  We will discover what we want to be.

Third, we will ask as many of our people that we can reach, what ministry is to them.  We will find what kind of ministry we need.  This will be our wish list and will shape priorities when we interview.  We will understand what skills our pastor will especially need.

Fourth, from our thoughts we will start to get a strong idea of what kind of person do we want to have lead our years ahead.  Skills are important but even more important is the personality he or she brings to Bethany.

Fifth, we will ask a small task force to provide our Profile, a gathering up of the data that tells our story and the things we have said in a way we can present it to any person who may be interested in being called as pastor.  This will be made available to the Synod office to help them to find the best available people to interview with us.  We will send a copy of this to each person we are interviewing.

Sixth, the CONGREGATION COUNCIL will appoint a six person CALL COMMITTEE (see constitution C13.05) who will do our interviews.  Usually we will receive 3 names to interview.  The council will also start to work on the financial package for our call.

Seventh, a representative of the Synod office will meet with the CALL COMMITTEE to present the names and to prepare the committee to interview.

Eighth, the CALL COMMITTEE will present one candidate to voted on by the congregation.  On Bethany’s favorable vote we will send a call and wait for his or her decision.

WOW, HOW LONG WILL THAT ALL TAKE?

The minimum time is usually about 6 months.  My last Interim took 14 months.  We may be able to combine some steps.  We will take as long as we need to do it well.  Each month We’ll keep you updated on what is happening

PASTOR "J"