Pastor Search Updates

Finding the Pastor called to Faith by God

Pastor Riordan will be retiring from full time ministry this fall.

The Elders and Pastor Call Committee have been hard at work over the last two months and have made especially significant progress in recent days. We have been confident in following the LCMS and our Constitution & Bylaws very closely.

Informed by the congregational profile and summary of the survey completed by members, Indiana Synod President Pastor Stuckwisch provided the Call Committee with a list of 25 Pastor Candidates; documentation for each candidate includes thorough self-evaluation and performance evaluation from the Synod. The Committee has spent the last four weeks reading through all available documentation and rating each pastor against the congregational survey summary items. This was very rewarding but difficult work.

On August 19, the Call Committee met in person to review the complete list and shorten it to 3–5 candidates for further consideration. The team identified five candidates for interviews. Circuit Visitor Pastor Mitchell will help arrange the interviews and develop a list of interview questions. The Call Committee is planning to complete these interviews in the next two weeks and anticipates a timely scheduling of the Voters Assembly that will select the Pastor we should call. Our Congregation President, Luke Jacobus, has already been in contact with Pastor Mitchell to develop the protocol and Agenda for the meeting of the Voters.

Please continue to pray for the Call Committee, for our Synod, for Pastor Todd and for our new Pastor that God has selected. We are getting very close to knowing who this man is, and we feel very optimistic.

—The Pastoral Call Committee and Board of Elders, Mike Murphy, Chair

Congregational Survey

Please click on the link above to download the survey. Take time to prayerfully answer the questions, and turn the survey into the box in the church entryway, or to the church office. We value every person's input, and all the responses will be anonymous. The goal is to get a snapshot of who we are as a congregation, and how we want to move forward into the future. Please return your survey by June 18.

Excerpt From the Faith Bylaws:

Board Of Elders

The Board of Elders shall initially consist of eight members. Each member’s term of office shall be two years. New board members shall be elected each year by the Voters’ Assembly. They shall organize and elect a chairman who shall represent them on the Church Council.

They shall:

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6. In case of a vacancy in the office of pastor, form a search committee to investigate the qualifications of possible candidates to fill the vacancy. This committee shall provide a slate of candidates to the Board who, in turn, shall provide a slate to the Voters’ Assembly with recommendation for selection of a candidate for a call.

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