Minister's Study

Ministering, writing, and wrestling in a land flowing with sweet tea and deep-fried food

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

It's official

Last night at our church's deacon's meeting, Pastor Gibbs announced to the deacons that he plans to retire June 30, with the recommendation that I succeed him as pastor, starting July 1. He and I had talked about that date a few months ago, but we chose to keep it quiet until a few things gelled.

Although I suspect that the deacons knew that part of the reason for bringing me to this church was for me to take over for Pastor Gibbs when he retired, I also suspect that the timing caught some of them by surprise -- I'm guessing that most did not expect him to retire so quickly. Although Pastor Gibbs is about 77, he is in remarkable condition for his age, with tremendous stamina for any age.

I will still have to be voted on as the new pastor -- that has to be determined by the church itself, not handed to them by the pastor or anyone else. But we don't anticipate any trouble with that, since I have the unqualified support of both the pastor and deacons, and there hasn't been any negative noise among the church membership that I'm aware of. The current plan is for me to go full-time with the church in May so that I can spend some time with Pastor Gibbs really learning the details of what he's been doing, then take the helm in July. The church will likely vote on this in April.

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