Hello Gloria Dei,
As we look forward to a congregational meeting on Sunday, October 12, at 10:00 a.m. to vote on extending a call to Pastor Chris to move into the Executive Pastor role at Gloria Dei, I’m including a note from Chris. Chris helps explain a bit about his calling to this role, as well as some of its responsibilities. I encourage you to be present to hear more on the 12th.
Hi Gloria Dei! There has been a lot of good and encouraging conversation about the possible change in call for me here to Executive Pastor. Your support has meant a lot and I’m thankful! I wanted to take a quick minute to share with you my own sense of call to the position and how this came about for me.
As a kid who grew up in Sioux Falls, my call to ministry was formed here in this growing and changing city. As a younger pastor, my call back to this community as your Associate Pastor of Mission/Outreach helped grow and change me, too. Change is inevitable. I love to look around at all the changes that have happened in my 40 years of life in this community, from the beautiful downtown improvements to those funky, yet functional, diverging diamond intersections!
In my last 9 years of serving with you all, I’ve come to appreciate another funky, yet functional, intersection right here at Gloria Dei: the intersecting relationships of pastors, staff, congregation, and community. This busy intersection is one of the things that makes this place and our shared ministry very special. The Executive Pastor at Gloria Dei serves at this intersection.
I’ve personally experienced the ways in which the Executive Pastor role pays attention to these intersecting relationships and how critical this role is in making sure these relationships are tended to, supported, and encouraged to flow for the sake of the Gospel and the sake of God’s church here. While it might not be always out in front of you all, the work of Executive Pastor to steward these relationships is crucial for the future that God is calling us to as a congregation. With Gloria Dei’s ever-growing impact in our community, I believe God has grown in me the gifts and the passion to help the flow of traffic at this funky, yet functional intersection.
With this change, I won’t have direct responsibility to oversee the day-to-day operations of Mission and Outreach here. However, that ministry won’t stop. The flow of traffic in Mission and Outreach will be directed in a new way. Mission and Outreach is an important part of who God has called us to be as a congregation. It will continue with a new and gifted combination of pastors, staff, congregation, and community. We’re still working on just how that will look. And part of the role of Executive Pastor is to help figure that out.
Thank you for extending the call to me to serve in Mission and Outreach all those years ago. And thank you for helping me to discern a call to Executive Pastor.
Let’s GO Gloria Dei!
Pastor Chris
