A blessed day at church
What a wonderful pair of worship services this morning. Attendance was high (211) and excitement was higher as we sang from hearts that needed the reminder; I Walk by Faith and worshipped our heavenly Father on Father’s Day with choruses and hymns. I played trombone with the worship team so it was not a quiet morning. I apologized to all the fathers for choosing Father’s day as my last Sunday. And we did take time to honor the fathers present too. One of the awesome moments was when the children and teens prayed for me. What an absolute joy to see them advancing in discipleship too and to be blessed by their prayers. At the end of second service, knowing that I am a fan of his organ playing, Richard Filmer played a special for us on the organ. It was excellent. At the end of both services, Larry Nemitz, Vice Chairman of the LBA, and Pastor Eric who is succeeding me, and I read a liturgy of transition. It is very rare in churches to see this happen. Most of the time there is a span of time between the leaving of the old pastor and the coming of the new. It was a highpoint as well. I have always prayed that God would grant a good transition at the end of my tenure here. I believe that prayer is definitely being answered. I am including the liturgy we used here.
Liturgy for 2013 pastoral transition
Larry Nemitz: This is a special moment in the history of our church. We are profoundly thankful for what God has done through the ministry of Pastor Kelvin and JoAnne. Pastor has led many to give testimony to their faith through Christian baptism as the Scripture instructs us. He has encouraged our collective worship through regular administration of the sacrament of communion. He has faithfully taught us from God’s Holy Word to love God, love others and make disciples. And he has mentored us by personal example, small group instruction and public exhortation. He has presided over moments of joy in our lives such as marriages and the naming of children and he has stood with us in times of trial and sorrow too.
Congregation: We are deeply grateful to God for sending us Pastor Kelvin and JoAnne to be faithful stewards of their gifts in this place and to exercise well the role of congregational leadership among us.
Pastor Kelvin: It has been my privilege and my joy to serve as your pastor, with God’s help, for these last 22 years. You have been a blessing to us too.
Larry Nemitz: While we are happy for you upon your retirement, we admit that it causes us grief to let you go away because we have learned to love you both. Yet in the providence of God we know that for everything, there is a season. By his grace, God has planned another chapter both for you and for us, which we are ready to enter into. Yesterday at district conference Rev. Dr. Eric Paashaus was officially stationed as our pastor for the coming year.
Pastor Kelvin: It has been my privilege to be a mentor to Pastor Eric and today it is a great joy to see him stepping into the role of leading pastor here at Community Wesleyan Church. Eric, as symbols of the transfer of stewardship of Community Wesleyan Church, I offer three ordinary gifts. One is a key to the front door of the church. It is a multi-faceted symbol. It reminds me that often the pastor’s contact with people is the front door to the family of God. It reminds me also that the pastor is the one who is ultimately responsible to God for the welfare of the church. Then second, I hand to you a Bible. It is a reminder to you and to the congregation gathered here that at your ordination service a Bible was handed to you by the denomination’s leaders and you were commissioned to take authority to preach the word of God. God is now giving you a great opportunity to fulfill that entrusting. Finally, I give you a towel. It is a symbol of the Biblical truth that Jesus taught us all that we are not here to be served but to serve. This is one of the great secrets of a successful pastorate.
Pastor Eric: It is with joy and with an awesome sense of responsibility that I accept your gifts. It is a privilege for Magda and myself and our children to become the pastoral family at Community Wesleyan. We covet your prayers. We look forward with great anticipation to what God intents to do among us as we work together with God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever!
Larry Nemitz: On behalf of the local board and all of God’s people here, we welcome you as our pastor and pastoral family. We look forward to laboring together in the kingdom of God.
Congregation: We heartily welcome and accept you as our pastor and pastoral family. God helping us, we will pray for you and listen carefully to the Word of God preached through you. May God richly anoint you with his Spirit and guide you as you lead us in following Jesus.