A few Sundays ago, PNC co-chair Michael Whisenhunt presented an update on our work. He shared that we expect our search to continue well into next year. We know that while many of you are eagerly awaiting the announcement and arrival of our next Senior Pastor, others among us feel encouraged that our church is thriving and are content to wait. While we all wait with varying emotions and expectations, please know that our goal remains to walk in step with God’s Spirit through this process.
Throughout our search, we have been guided by Lori Pistor, our presbytery-assigned vacancy counselor. Lori has been a great resource to us, offering us wisdom and ideas based on her experience accompanying PNCs from many other churches. She has assured us that the timeline of our search is typical.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) has recently changed the system it uses to connect PNCs and pastors. In light of this and in consultation with the presbytery, we have updated our posting, are running a new matching process, and making all information public again. The updated version of our Ministry Information Form (MIF) is now called a Ministry Discernment Profile (MDP). While the forms look different, the core content remains the same. The MDP, like the MIF, offers candidates a description of our congregation and what we are looking for in our next Senior Pastor. Applicants outside of the PC(USA)’s online system can find the MDP on our website and submit their Personal Discernment Profile (PDP) to us directly.
While the PNC continues conversations that have been ongoing since the summer and the fall, we also seek to be open to how God may choose to guide our next steps, including the possibility of bringing us new candidates to consider. Please continue to pray for these conversations and for God’s Spirit to guide each person in the discernment process.
Please feel free to reach out to us at pnc@blacknall.org with any thoughts or questions. More details about the pastoral transition are available on our website. Thank you so much for praying for our next Senior Pastor and for praying for us as we look to Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, for wisdom and discernment.