Retirement

Taking a year to retire (or now, about 10.5 months) looks like it's going to be a little more difficult than I had first thought. What it now reminds me of, more than anything else, is that time in between taking a 'normal' call and actually leaving town. The people know you are going to be gone, they know the changes are coming, and they know that somewhere there is another pastor who will come to shepherd them. But that leaves the pastor in an awkward situation, and there isn't anything fun about being a lame-duck pastor.

With the best of intentions, my congregation is moving forward in the calling process. Some of the leaders already have an idea about getting a man out of the seminary (who would be cheaper) it has lots of experience as a teacher or principal, so that he could come here and be sole pastor and principal of the school. Whether that is a good idea, and whether or not anyone else in the congregation has that idea, is yet to be seen. But the congregation does want to get busy at replacing me, ASAP.

I will still be able to do some good here, and serve here, by advising them and giving them information that they don't have – oftentimes, it seems that if someone needs to summarize and clarify all the things up and setting meetings, and I seem to be able to do that here when no one else can. So, I continued to serve as the people are eager to find a replacement.