A Word From Our Interim Pastor

The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

Our Interim Pastor Journey Town Hall Meetings focus on adaptive change. I introduced the following principles at Our Interim Pastor Journey Town Hall Meeting, Step 2, on Sunday, May 5. Those principles are making observations, making interpretations, asking questions, and making measured interventions. This process of making observations, making interpretations, asking questions, and making measured interventions is an excellent discernment process as we listen to God and one another for ...

On Sunday, May 5, ninety-two of us spent two hours together over an amazing “Cinco de Mayo” themed lunch making observations, interpretations, asking questions, and creating playful interventions around the challenge of declining attendance at Grace.

The Session has identified five emerging ministry emphases: caring, connecting, learning, serving, and worshipping. This past Sunday’s Step 2 in Our Interim Pastor Journey Town Hall meetings further clarified the emerging ministry emphases and Grace’s identity profile as we move closer in acknowledging who we ...

Philippians 1:6 reads, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” I’ll never forget responding to God’s love for me in Jesus Christ as an eighth grader in the Communicant’s class. I’ll never forget the Sunday School teachers in the front rows smiling with tears of joy when I shared my Statement of Faith in the worship service. I’ll never forget how ...

Over the years of my ministry, I often return to Philippians 1:6. And now, given our Interim Pastor journey, I find great encouragement for each one of us at this time in Grace’s history and ministry. Philippians 1:6 reads, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” Grace is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Our individual lives are built on ...

I’m reading a book on “change” written by N. Graham Standish. Let me share some comments provided by the Publisher at Fortress Press.

“. . . And the Church Actually Changed addresses issues brought up by clergy themselves in his coaching work with them. Using an integrative approach to ministry, Standish draws on insights from counseling, spiritual direction, organizational development, and other fields. The book is written in the form of dialogues between a clergy coach and various clergy clients who ...