Council has approved the transition team’s recommendation that we hire Leonard Vander Zee as our Preaching Pastor for the first term of our interim between senior pastors.
This time period will begin Sunday, September 11, 2016, and we hope that a second interim preaching pastor will begin with the season of EPIPHANY 2017, JANUARY 8. Len is, however, willing to continue through the academic year if we need him to.
Our interim pastor will focus primarily on PREACHING; Len will also ordinarily attend weekly staff meetings and monthly Council meetings. He will be available as emergency needs arise but most of the other aspects of our life as a congregation will continue with the oversight of our staff, our elders, and our deacons.
The rationale for dividing our interim period into multiple terms is our hope to accomplish two objectives which, at first glance, may seem contradictory. First, we hope to provide the stability that will make the transition in September go as smoothly as possible. Len is already a member of this congregation and his preaching is much appreciated. Second, we hope to give ourselves the opportunity to experience different preaching styles and voices later in this interim.
We anticipate that Len will be working on our behalf 40 – 45 hours each month. He would like one Sunday per month off and we will be paying an additional honorarium to whomever supplies our pulpit those Sundays.
The transition team recommends that Council approval be sufficient for inviting interim preaching pastors. There will be much greater congregational involvement when it is time to consider calling a new Senior Pastor.