Greetings St. Mark's!

Grace and peace to you, dear ones! My family and I have been holding you in love, gratitude, and prayer these last few months as we have been listening to the Spirit with you. Right now that looks like anticipation and joy as we look forward to getting to be with you all very soon!  

For those of you who I haven't had the chance to meet, I'm very much looking forward to get to know you and share in ministry at St. Mark's. I have been a Deacon of Faith Formation in the ELCA for 10 years. I grew up in Chillicothe, Ohio, came to Chicago to attend seminary (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago-LSTC), served my first call in Mount Prospect, IL at St. Mark Lutheran Church. My second call was unexpectedly at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Torrance, CA and full of a different kind of joy and responsibility as I was the sole rostered leader. As the Spirit has moved in my life lately, I'm so very excited to be called to be part of your community, listening to the Spirit with you, hearing the stories of your life, learning about Aurora, and seeing what God is up to in our midst. The parts of my call that I'm most excited about are sharing stories with young people and wondering about God. I love sharing the Godly Play method with young people, inviting young people to be leaders and lovers of worship, and just generally playing at church.

As for my family, my wife Christie is also an ELCA pastor. She's originally from Phoenix, AZ. We met at seminary and served together at St. Mark in Mount Prospect. Christie is finishing a call in Santa Monica at Mount Olive Lutheran Church and School and looking forward to serving The Table, an ELCA congregation that is located in Batavia/Geneva. Christie loves preaching and pastoral care most in her call. She loves doing artwork, taking hikes and reading when she's not working or parenting. Thomas (8) and Sam (4) are the energetic heart of our family. Thomas is excited about starting third grade. He is currently really into visiting National Parks, Maritime Museums (especially if they have submarines or naval vessels you can tour), playing sports, Star Wars, and drawing. Sam is "excited to start at a new school" in a Pre-K 4 class. He loves popsicles, playing at the playground, going on treasure hunts, stuffed animals, and reptiles. We also have a puppy named Webbie Louise Coco Waffles Webb, or just Webbie for short. She is a six month old maltese poodle mix. She is energetic and goofy and loves to play. She came to us this year after we said goodbye to our 14 year old, shih tzu poodle mix George in February.  

Currently, we find ourselves in the great circle of belonging and blessing of leave-taking and farewell; of being sent and received. It's been a bit of a whirlwind as we share with friends and family what God has been up to in our lives. The last few weeks we have been in the process of saying goodbye to our congregations and friends in Santa Monica and Torrance and buying our first home. The farewells have been bittersweet and full of grace. Home buying has been exciting and quite the learning process. We have our fingers crossed that very soon our moving trucks will know exactly where they are headed.  

We continue to dwell in the Spirit's blessing as we're in this space and soak in the prayers and gratitude that knit these unexpected days together. Though many details are still coming together and we don't have an exact start date yet, I look forward to joining you in mid to late August. You all continue to be in our hearts and prayers as we look forward to those days when we can be together and feel the wind of the Spirit blowing through us and calling us into the next season of our shared ministries and lives.  

Peace, 

Deacon David Webb