In the last couple of weeks, the Search Committee met with three highly qualified candidates and their families. We are grateful to Raleigh Mennonite Church, Fairmont United Methodist Church and Umstead Park United Church of Christ for hosting our candidates and welcoming us into their communities. We heard three inspiring and thought provoking sermons and broke bread with each of the candidates and their families. We learned a lot more about them and they learned more about us. As a bonus, from participating in other services, we were exposed to good ideas that we could perhaps incorporate into our church.
We are now at the end of this process and will be prayerfully considering these candidates. We ask that you continue to pray for the church and for each candidate's family as we all consider the calls that each of us have for our lives. We will continue to keep the church informed as we move forward through the next stages of this process.
I am thankful that CUCC entrusted in me this great responsibility of seeking and calling our next pastor. I am grateful for all of those on the committee - we each had our own strengths and we worked well together. We were blessed with many great candidates and even when we disagreed on choices, we have worked to make sure that all voices are heard and everyone is thoroughly considered. This morning, this verse came to me during my readings.
1 Corinthians 4:7-8 For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing? You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle. Without bringing either Apollos or me into it, you’re sitting on top of the world—at least God’s world—and we’re right there, sitting alongside you! (The Message translation)
We know that our next pastor will bring many gifts to Community UCC - and at times will probably challenge us. But we should remember that we are already blessed.
Mike Cline for the Pastoral Search Committee