The Council has appointed the 7-member Call Committee, along with alternates. A Call Committee is tasked with discerning the will of God for our future. It is a tall order! Let us surround them and the work they do with our prayers.
- Phyllis Bengston, Taryn Bullert, Dominic DesMarais, Jennifer Gustafson, Andy Kohls, Josie LaFave, and Eric Mattson.
- 1st Alternate: Joan Halderson, 2nd: Paula Herda, 3rd: Tyler & Hannah Peterson [one vote].
The Call Committee is given the responsibility and privilege of interviewing the potential pastoral candidates.
This is a holy task that is to be done prayerfully, with integrity and faithfulness to the process.
The foremost question for the call committee in its beginning is: What is the mission, ministry, and future to which God is beckoning this congregation?
The process of Calling a pastor is much different than a hiring process.
The Call Committee will, after prayerful consideration, select a candidate to present to the Council for recommendation to the congregation.
But the Call to the next pastor is the responsibility and privilege of the congregation; all voting members of the congregation will be invited to a meeting to pray, consider, and then vote on the final candidate presented by the council.
As the Call Committee is installed, they will be asked:
- Are you willing to be open to the Spirit’s leading, and, by prayer and holy conversation, to undertake this task to seek a final candidate for Senior Pastor for us?
- Will you be diligent in your seeking, careful in your listening, purposeful in your questioning, and respectful in all that you do?
- Will you seek the Lord’s guidance through Holy Scripture and prayer and in your deliberations with your fellow committee members?
- And finally: Are you ready to accept and faithfully carry out the duties of this appointment?
They will be asked to consider the task before them and invited to answer;
I will and I ask God to help and guide me.
In concert with those questions, the congregation will be asked:
- Will you support these members of the Call Committee?
- Will you remember them in your prayers and respect their responsibilities and honor their efforts?
Much like our answers at the Affirmation of Holy Baptism, we will recognize that this undertaking can only be successful if we undertake it with God’s help and guidance. So you will be asked to consider your support and invited to answer:
I will and I ask God to help and guide me.
The entire process is wrapped in our collective prayers and listening for God’s Holy Spirit in this new chapter for Zion Lutheran Church. Thank you to those who have agreed to serve as our Call Committee.
