A New Season

This week I shared with our congregation in St Paul, that I have accepted a new call to be the Interim Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, KS (cue cheering K-State fans). I felt God's calling back in 2011 to serve with the dear folks in St Paul, and now God has called Robbie and I to a new season of our lives. 

What a blessing First Presby St Paul has been! I had my first baptisms and weddings, my first Mountain Oysters and my first Airboat ride! I fed calves and learned about irrigation, and oh, I couldn't count how many Kolačy we've shared! We've made labyrinths, enjoyed prayer stations, and played hours of Warewolf, Apples to Apples and Bingo. We celebrated some of the best Thanksgivings I could imagine, and they celebrated with Robbie and me our first year of Marriage. I will always remember each Baptism, the delicious dinners and lunches, and the generous hearts which welcomed us in this congregation and in the community. 

For sometime now, I have felt God calling me(us) into a new season. A season of working with a multi-staff church, where I can learn alongside other pastors and teachers, where I can see how others are asking the same questions we have been in the smaller congregation. I have felt a calling to more adventures in alternative approaches to worship whether that's through technology or through participatory and hands-on worship elements.

The opportunity in Manhattan will give me space to do all of the above and have fun doing it! I'm excited to work with their youth and college students and find ways to connect them to God and to the adults in the congregation. I'm excited to help them dream about what outreach events can cultivate curiosity in their community to draw new people into the fold. I'm excited to share my musical passion and gifts in ways that can reach out to kids and youth and more. I'm excited to share my preaching and creative gifts that I have developed over my time in St Paul.

Most of all, I'm excited for this next journey with my loving husband, Robbie. Again, he will be packing up to move and look for a new calling of his own, and yet this time, I feel less like he's following me, and more like we are taking this next leap hand in hand, journeying into this next season together. We ask for prayers as we are seeking employment for him, and we hope you will celebrate the many opportunities that await us.

We give thanks to God for all of the blessings that have been showered on us already, and we deeply give thanks for our St Paul Framily, which has showered us with love and encouraged us throughout our ministry here.