Released
Yesterday we had a very interesting service at my new church - Heritage Mountain. Urban Sanctuary was part of the service. Brent prayed a prayer, blessing Felicia and I and releasing us from Urban Sanctuary and commissioning us into our new ministry at Heritage Mountain.
And then the outgoing pastor, John Reimer, prayed a blessing on Felicia and I, and another prayer of blessing for Urban Sanctuary.
Finally, the chairman of the board, prayed for John and Debbie Reimer also releasing them from Heritage Mountain, and blessing them in their new church in Alberta.
I have never heard of this kind of service before, where the church that a pastor is leaving joins in worship with his new church and also blesses them in their new ministry. It was so awesome!
After, we all went for a picnic at a local beach. Quite the day. The weather was awesome too - summer has come about 1 mth.late.
It really felt like final closure on the Urban Sanctuary chapter of our lives, and the opening of the new ministry in Port Moody for us. I am excited and also a bit nervous at this new ministry opportunity. I am the lead pastor of an established church. I am no longer in the role of intern, associate, church planter, para-church worker, or any of those other roles I have had in the past.
It is not something I take lightly. Indeed, many times I find myself praying to God for the wisdom that this new position requires. My new position is primarily three fold: preaching, leading the leadership team and overseeing the church staff. There are other responsibilities of course, but these three are primary.
I sense that I will need to continue on my path of the spiritual disciplines I have in my life: fasting, prayer, regular devotional Bible reading, solitude. I will probably incorporate 3 day study retreats prior to starting new sermon series, in order to begin to digest the book of the Bible I am going to preach, and to also schedule out the messages. I also want to be more disciplined in reading and learning in the areas of leadership and management. I usually read a book that is on the current top 10 New York Times business best-seller list, but I need to devote more time to reading them and then incorporating the principles into the ministry.
And then the outgoing pastor, John Reimer, prayed a blessing on Felicia and I, and another prayer of blessing for Urban Sanctuary.
Finally, the chairman of the board, prayed for John and Debbie Reimer also releasing them from Heritage Mountain, and blessing them in their new church in Alberta.
I have never heard of this kind of service before, where the church that a pastor is leaving joins in worship with his new church and also blesses them in their new ministry. It was so awesome!
After, we all went for a picnic at a local beach. Quite the day. The weather was awesome too - summer has come about 1 mth.late.
It really felt like final closure on the Urban Sanctuary chapter of our lives, and the opening of the new ministry in Port Moody for us. I am excited and also a bit nervous at this new ministry opportunity. I am the lead pastor of an established church. I am no longer in the role of intern, associate, church planter, para-church worker, or any of those other roles I have had in the past.
It is not something I take lightly. Indeed, many times I find myself praying to God for the wisdom that this new position requires. My new position is primarily three fold: preaching, leading the leadership team and overseeing the church staff. There are other responsibilities of course, but these three are primary.
I sense that I will need to continue on my path of the spiritual disciplines I have in my life: fasting, prayer, regular devotional Bible reading, solitude. I will probably incorporate 3 day study retreats prior to starting new sermon series, in order to begin to digest the book of the Bible I am going to preach, and to also schedule out the messages. I also want to be more disciplined in reading and learning in the areas of leadership and management. I usually read a book that is on the current top 10 New York Times business best-seller list, but I need to devote more time to reading them and then incorporating the principles into the ministry.
Comments
Best wishes with your new congregation. Let me know if you would like to learn a little bit o' Plautdietsch to fit in!