Senior Warden's Message - October 28, 2018

Dear St. John’s Members,
As many of you know, this week we held our first vestry meeting since Fr. Matt’s departure, and we had a full agenda! After tying up some administrative lose ends, we were able to spend most of our two-hour meeting discussing the plans for navigating this transition period. Now that we’ve had this chance to discuss we also wanted to share an update with the congregation so that everyone can be on the same page during this process.
As senior warden it is my duty to lead the search committee for a new rector and to help oversee the church during this time while we do not have a rector. We can generally expect to have a supply priest for the next few Sundays until we are able to secure an interim priest. Interim priests have a special ministry to churches in transition, and this individual will help us with services until we find and secure our new full-time rector. More to come on this as the process develops; I’ve been in touch with the office of transition ministry and will be working closely with the Diocese.
I’m starting to learn that one of the beautiful things about The Episcopal Church is that we are lay led. The vestry of St. John’s is fully capable of running business as usual and we’re already seeing a flurry of energy as many other church members have stepped up to fill the void left by Fr. Matt. We’ have expanded the sidewalk between the Parish Hall and the sanctuary (special thanks to Will, our Jr. Warden), we are serving our community as a polling place on Nov. 6, and we have started a new young adults’ group – this is just to name a few of the great things that have been organized in the last few weeks. 
We can all agree that Fr. Matt brought a lot to St. John’s. I personally learned a lot from him, but one thing he said to me a few years ago has been in my memory during this time. He said that before he applied to be our Rector five years ago, what caught his eye about St. John’s was that we had started new ministries and expanding others while in transition. This is a very rare thing, almost unheard of among churches. I remember what that was like when we were starting the refugee ministry and the community garden – and because of those experiences I find it easy to get excited about the potential as we step into this transition period. As we navigate this time, please keep in mind that St. John’s has a recent history of being very alive, and very creative and self-directing during transition. Ask yourself what you can do to help to serve God and our Parish – we have a lot to look forward to!
Sincerely,
Chad Hall, Sr. Warden
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