At Saturday's presbytery meeting, the Director of Presbytery Mission Search Team, through its chairperson, Darin Seaman, reported that the search for our new presbytery leader would take a little bit longer than expected and asked the presbytery for its continued prayers as the Search Team continues its work during the weeks ahead.

 

Darin's report led inquiring minds to ask, what does this mean for the presbytery going forward? What is the leadership plan for us starting on January 1, 2017? Stan Menning, one of the co-chairs of the Commission on Presbytery Life, indicated that his commission had a task group working to prepare an answer for that question and a transition plan that would enable things to proceed smoothly.  The first part of that plan was to determine who would be in charge and sitting in "the big chair" at 4055 Abbott Drive in Willmar following the Christmas break. It was determined to "go with what you know" and that it would be Rick Carus.

 

The Commission on Presbytery Life shared with the presbytery on Saturday that it has voted to extend my contract to serve this presbytery for up to three additional months and I have accepted this invitation. This will allow me to work with y'all a little bit longer as we enter the first transition since the implementation of our new mission design in March 2016.

 

Since March, we have spent a great deal of time and effort living into the vision that the Next Pres Team created and that you all agreed to adopt. As I indicated on Saturday, we don't have it all figured out yet. I know that we have had some frustrations in making this design work and there have been bumps in the road, but each of the commissions and committees have had some successes in the past year, and we feel that we are moving in the right direction. I am so appreciative of each person who has stepped in and helped us to move this forward. We have a good number of patient and committed teaching elders and ruling elders in this presbytery, and they are making it happen. We are living into our different way of being, and I am excited to have the chance to help close the books on 2016 and launch us into the new year.

 

On Saturday afternoon, we elected folks to join us in the Class of 2019 on the commissions and committees of presbytery. We still have two important vacancies to fill, but we are confident that we will have the right folks on board in the next week or so. Many of the folks who took short terms to start us out are now jumping on for a full three-year ride, and we have some new folks who are finding a place to try out their gifts. It is all still coming into shape, but your response has been so supportive! Thank you.

 

We will launch into Year 2 of our new design on Saturday, January 21 at First Presbyterian Church in Willmar. On that day, all the commissions and committees will gather for worship, fellowship, and work. This will be the time for each team to get oriented and organized, to set their goals and their calendars, and to start work on the year's agenda! Everyone who is part of a committee or commission is asked to save that day to be with us in Willmar. It will be a most important day!

 

I know some of you are asking, "what happened to Rick's retirement"? It is still going to happen, but just a wee bit later than planned. The papers for the Board of Pensions hadn't been finished, so it was easy to make that shift - instead of filing retirement papers, I went on line and updated my benefits profile for 2017 (something that all pastors need to make sure they do by Friday). Also, my counselor at Social Security was so understanding - she acknowledged that sometimes God has another plan for us and to call her down the road when God and I get this retirement thing figured out. So, the journey with this presbytery will continue a little while longer!  Let's make the most of it, together!