Pastor Search Update – December 2024

Dear Church Family,

As the co-moderators of the PNC, we wanted to share an update on the present activity happening with the pastor search.

First, we are so grateful for the hearty participation from you during the ENGAGE phase of our search process, which is now complete. One of our favorite moments would often occur toward the end of our focus group sessions. The PNC member facilitating the focus group would finish writing on a whiteboard all the various characteristics desired by the group…and the room would go silent, quickly realizing that there is no way one human being could be all the things desired on that list. Often, a church member would humbly say, “Wow, only Jesus can fulfill that list,” then ask if they could pray for us, realizing the monumental desire of the congregation faced with the human reality of this call. So, with that, we say thank you.

Second, we wanted to share that we have entered phase three of our 5E’s, called EXPLORE.  This is the phase most anticipated by our church family as we begin to interact with possible candidates for the position of senior pastor. The event that officially kicks off this phase is when the PNC “posts” the job opening on the ECO job board. There are three items that we include in this “post”:

• The first is the CHURCH PROFILE which was compiled using the church survey you generously completed several months ago that has been approved by Session and the Vision Committee.
• The second is a PASTOR JOB DESCRIPTION that was compiled using the focus group information you shared during our ENGAGE phase and has been approved by the PNC.
• The third item is the APPLICATION SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS for candidates interested in pursuing the position of senior pastor here at Highland Park Pres.

These items were posted recently on the ECO Job Board, and the PNC looks forward to the wonderful conversations ahead that God will use to lead us to our next Senior Pastor.

Third, we wanted to share the spiritual discernment framework we are using in this important phase. Pursuing God’s Will Together by Ruth Haley Barton is a book that our Session has used and has also been recommended to us by several ECO leaders. It highlights spiritual practices that are essential to listening well to one another and to the voice of the Holy Spirit during a discernment period. We are learning about the submission and the surrender required during this phase. We are learning to submit to the authority and boundaries we have established as a PNC to honor our group as well as to surrender our personal wants and desires in a senior pastor to honor God’s wants and desires for our church family and future. We welcome you to read this book with us, learn this framework for discernment, and join us on this journey of submission and surrender for the sake of God’s will to carry us forward.

Finally,  we ask you to pray, fiercely pray: for the Dunagan family as they continue to grieve, for the person God is already nudging and preparing to become our next leader, and for the PNC – we need it! The five things we ask you to pray for the PNC are the following:

• UNITY in spirit
• DISCERNMENT in our process
• PROTECTION from the enemy
• WIDSOM in conduct
• JOY along the way

Thank you. God bless you, and may we all find the nearness of Jesus in this Advent season.

Your PNC Moderators,
Charlie Davis and Kelsey Phillips