Pastor's Page

Pastor Sailer provides a full-page letter to the congregation, called the "Pastor's Page," for inclusion in the weekly announcements/"News Notes." The Pastor's Page is used to inform and encourage in many areas of the Christian's life and the ministry of Faith Lutheran Church. On the 2nd Sunday of each month, Vicar Clint Thorson provides the "Vicar's Voice" in place of the Pastor's Page.

Pastor's Page for the Weekend of January 14 & 15, 2012:

CALLING AN ASSISTANT PASTOR
Faith’s Latest Momentous Decision --
A Report from Last Sunday’s Voters’ Meeting

Many Faith members have already learned that a big decision has been made. Here is the
e-mail announcement I sent out last Sunday evening (January 8) concerning the decision, a few hours after the Voters’ Meeting:

"It's official. In our Voters' Meeting today, the Lord led us to extend a call for a seminary candidate (Spring graduate) to fill our new Assistant Pastor position. We will now forward our call documents to our District President, The Rev. Dr. Dale Sattgast, who will evaluate our documents and then send them on to the seminaries. The placement committees at the seminaries will consider which candidates will be a good match for our congregation.

We understand that our congregation is not necessarily guaranteed an Assistant Pastor via a call for a seminary candidate, as there is always the possibility that the number of calls exceeds the number of available candidates, but it is certainly our prayer that the Lord would provide one of these men for us.

The Call Services at the seminaries will take place in early May. If we are granted a candidate, his installation would likely be sometime this summer.

65 members of the congregation were present to conduct this important work of the Church today. We thank them very much for their thoughtful and prayerful service as voters."

The Lord of the Church, by His Holy Spirit, led us to this decision. We prayed for His guidance and blessing; we received it.

It didn’t always feel that way as we met last Sunday. We had virtually unanimous agreement on two issues: that we should call an Assistant Pastor and that he should be a candidate (i.e., a man graduating from the seminary this Spring). Where there were obvious differences of opinion was in the issue of “open” call, which means that we simply submit our call documents with the detailed description of who we are and what we do at Faith Lutheran Church, and we trust the seminary placement committees to do thoughtful and prayerful work in assigning a candidate to us. Many in the Assembly held the firm conviction that the Spirit would work this way to bring us an Assistant Pastor.

Many others in the Voters Assembly were strongly in favor of “designating” one or more specific candidates as our select pool of candidates from among the seminary graduates this Spring. In effect, this choice would have meant that we give more input to the process by way of our selection of a few candidates (via interviews conducted by our Call Committee) to put forward to the placement committees. Those who represented this point of view firmly held the belief that the Spirit can work in this way, too.

Let me be clear: both “sides” felt strongly; both had thoughtful and heartfelt reasons for believing what they did about the kind of call we should submit. Both firmly trusted the Spirit to work and to bless. Both know He is God and that we should place no human limitations on how He can work.

The “open” call process was eventually selected by our Voters in a vote of 33-22. We will now provide the call documents to the seminaries, and we will trust our Triune God to work for the good of His kingdom in this matter.

I would remind you that this “open” process is essentially how it happened in the vicarage placement process. We provided our vicarage application with its description of who we are and what we do here at Faith, and the seminary vicarage placement people assigned the student they thought would benefit best from their experiences with us, and from whom we would receive help in our ministry. We, of course, were assigned Vicars Janneke and Thorson through this process, neither of whom we knew … not a single person among us.

But God knew. And He knows again who He wants to bring to us this time as an Assistant Pastor through this mysterious process wherein He works, and wherein He uses us and seminary people and District Presidents as His co-workers in the process.

I will rejoice in however God chooses to work and to bless. I pray that you will join me in such rejoicing!