From the Pastor

From Interim to Transformational

February 2008

Pastor Dave I will be your pastor for a while longer. That simple statement does not tell of all the work and thought and prayer that have gone into the decision for me to remain, but it does say that you and I will be ‘yoked’ together for some unfinished tasks of mission and vision.

The Call Committee, the Minneapolis Area Synod offices, and I have reached an agreement for me to receive and accept a “Term Call” to remain your pastor for at least one year while all of us here at First Lutheran focus on the longer term calling of God for this ministry. I am only too happy to remain for this task. But, and this is a significant but, there are some ‘catches’ to this extension of my time with you.

The first one is that by the end of 2009 we will have completed a real assessment of who we are as a community. This involves not only who we are as First Lutheran but who our neighbors are. We will need to bring in some helpers this year so that we produce an ‘honest’ picture. This will have an important impact on which we become in the near future.

The next one will involve an honest look at our resources, both financial and human, over the coming months. We need to be both prudent and prophetic about what we can do now to ensure that we have a future. Let us make these hard choices now while we are healthy so that we do not make unwise choices at a time of distress.

Then, there is the most interesting ‘catch’ of all. I have chosen to respond to the Call Committee by limiting my time with you because I believe it will make both you and me be more deliberate about doing something very special in the coming twelve months. We both have wonderful futures ahead of us. Our time together in the next year needs to produce something unexpected, something unique and wonderful that changes the way First Lutheran does ministry and the way I lead as a pastor. Let us together create a new model for being the church in change.

I look forward to leading this church no longer through an ‘interim’ but into a ‘transformation’ for both of us. For this I ask your understanding, your prayers, and your willingness to partner with me for the new challenge before us.

Pastor Dave

ELCA