Priest-in-Charge Announcement

Yes, Faith Has a Priest-in-Charge

The Vestry and I are very pleased to share the good news that we have accepted the appointment of Fr. Tom Gartin to serve as Priest-in-Charge at Faith. Fr. Tom brings a wealth of gifts to us. He has a pastoral focus with a collaborative leadership style who works to build relationships and empower leaders. Fr. Tom is passionate about welcoming all people and providing entry points into our faith community. He has fresh ideas for connecting with kids (and their parents), young adults, and senior members of our congregation.

It has felt like our congregation has been in this transition process for a long time. But when I reflect back on where we started in April 2019 compared to today, I now feel renewed energy and can clearly see God’s hand gently leading us toward our future. I am grateful for your prayers and patience while we worked through the various pieces of the transition process. I want to thank the members of the Profile Committee, the ARC team, my fellow Vestry members and Sharon Morrison, our chaplain, for all of the prayer, long hours and grace they have each demonstrated during this process. Thank you to Monica, Pat E, Cass and Lynne for their flexibility and willingness to help out in any way they could. Thank you also to Rev. Sonya for her humor and support. Lastly, I give a giant ‘THANK YOU’ to Pastor Liz for her guidance, prayers and grace. COVID-19 kept this from being a typical interim rectorship for her, but Liz’s constant support and leadership allowed our teams to focus on their work.

The Vestry and I are looking forward to each of you meeting Fr. Tom. A welcome team is planning some fun ways to introduce Fr. Tom to you all in our new normal meeting spaces. We all look forward to the day when we can all be together in person sharing God’s message for us.

Peace to all,

Cathy Daust

Sr. Warden

A Note From Pastor Liz

Dear Faith Church Community,

This is an exciting and challenging time to be the Church and you have just received a gifted leader to be your Priest-in-Charge – Fr. Tom Gartin. As many of you know, he has been serving as the Interim clergy lead at St. Augustine following my departure last year. Tom was at St. Augustine for his discernment process for the priesthood and served as both a deacon and as the Assistant Rector after his priestly ordination. I have been privileged to be Tom’s mentor, boss, and friend. His path these last several years has been a hard one, and I am consistently impressed with Tom’s commitment to his own well-being and self-awareness and his commitment to his faith and his role as a spiritual leader.

Please know that the ARC and the Vestry maintained strict confidence throughout this process, and I was never asked about Tom until it came time to contact his references. As his former employer I was contacted a few weeks ago to be a reference, and it was only then that I knew he had applied for this position. Canon Andrea asked me the list of reference questions provided to her by the ARC, and she summarized my answers and provided them to the ARC for their report to the Vestry.

Faith Church has such wonderful and strong lay leadership and that is a gift for Tom as your PIC. The Holy Spirit is on the move and it is wonderful!

God’s Peace,

Pastor Liz

Meet Father Tom

Dear Faith Church,

It is my honor and great delight to accept the call to serve as your Priest-in-Charge. You have done some incredible work serving Christ in your community, in this diocese, and across the world. My heart is filled with hopeful expectancy as we prepare to partner together in ministry.

We will share many stories together as we weave new ones together, and I look forward to our time of getting acquainted. I heard a rumor that one of the questions planned is about my hair color--I confess that I do not have purple hair, but I’m open to the possibility when we have our next fundraising event.

I’m passionate about faith formation and all the ways our learning and sharing life together helps us to see the radiance of divine joy that sparked the universe into being and knit each of us together with loving purpose. It’s hard not to get together and throw a big party--I know FEC knows how--but as we attend to the necessary work of health and caution, I know we will find ways to share life and fellowship and faith together.

May God’s Spirit fill our hearts as we prepare to join together in the life of faith.

Grace and peace,

Fr. Tom+

Join us for the Coffee Hour at 11 a.m. Sunday, June 21, 2020

for additional information from Cathy Daust, Sr. Warden.

Zoom meeting details will be sent on Saturday.