Big Shoes to Fill

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you to all of you who have prayed for me, our pastor search committee and our church as we sought God's will for our new pastor.

Yesterday, our new pastor, Larry Riley, preached his first official sermon as our pastor.

What a journey and a year it has been?!

Our committee of 15 (yes, we know that is a very large search committee) witnessed God unfold His will for us. We prayed. We surveyed the congregation. We prayed. We made a profile of who we thought the man we were looking for would look like. We prayed. We read over 350 resumes. We prayed. We watched countless sermons online. We prayed. We contacted numerous references. And, yes, we prayed some more.

It was a very unique and humbling experience as God brought us all to an unanimous decision that this was the man for a church. We watched as the deacon body also unanimously approved our candidate (Most of you know what a "God-Thing" that is!)

One thing we all knew from the beginning and had confirmed through the congregational survey and other conversations with church members was that we knew we were calling a family, a husband AND wife, not just a man.

So, now THEY are here. Pastor Riley has begun meetings with current staff members, deacons and support staff. Pastor Riley is preparing sermons and preaching. He will be making appearances and meeting people at various functions and get-togethers. No doubt, he has hit the ground running just as those of us on the pastor search committee knew he would.

But what about her? "Her" name is Elizabeth. She has been prayed for and her arrival anticipated almost as much as her husband's. Her virtues and gifts have been touted. Even I got to share some about her in testimony form during the service he would preach his "in-view-of-a-call" sermon.

Then, I overheard someone jokingly reference a halo when they introduced themselves to her yesterday after the second service. Honestly, ever since I heard that, it hasn't "sat" right with me. She graciously smiled and accepted the complement as that was how the comment was intended. But, it hit me; she has a large congregation watching her, judging her, waiting on her to decide what kind of pastor's wife she is going to be. Everyone has good intentions. However they have expectations based on their own individual experiences. Talk about big shoes to fill!

On top of all that, their belongings are still 12 hours or so away. They are waiting to move in until a home is ready for them. She is trying to home school her 10th grade son. Additionally, their move here meant she had to leave her job. All of this transpired in 2 weeks.

Elizabeth IS wise and godly. She can handle the "fish bowl" and will rely on God to meet her and her family's needs. However, she knows she needs prayers. My welcome gift to her is my commitment to truly and sincerely pray for her.

Will you commit to pray for her too?