Vacation (sort of like a mini sabbatical) drawing near!

I can hardly believe that my two month vacation begins in one week! Part of me is looking forward to this time; part of me is dreading this time.

Changes already implemented:
1. Lay worship leaders--Evergreen has a history of lay folks help to lead worship. This group has been transformed! People were selected based on ministry gifts. The group has people who love the Lord, are comfortable in from of large groups of people and have good communication skills. They are currently leading almost all of the worship service in preparation for this summer. Good job everyone!!
2. Steering committee--In the Presbyterian Church, the church is governed by elders. The elders currently serving terms meet in a group called the "session." The session cannot meet unless the moderator of the session is present (that is the pastor--me). So what happens when the pastor is gone for an extended time? In the typical "sabbatical" a temporary moderator will be appointed by the Presbytery. We are trying to have Evergreen be LESS dependent on the pastor. So, we have formed a "steering" committee of session to guide the church during the vacation. The group cannot make any decisions that would need to be made by the session. I am available if a special session meeting is needed. The steering committee is composed of all session members, two deacons, the clerk of session and the church office administrator. The session had its regular meeting in April. The steering committee met later in the month to plan for the summer. The session met in May. Part of the meeting was debriefing the steering committee meeting. The steering committee met last Sunday (June 14) and will continue meeting every two weeks during the vacation. It is working out quite well.

Enough for now--- more on this latter.