Dear First Pres,
A few months ago I was sitting with a few of our Ruling Elders and talking about building the discipline of consistent prayer for particular needs. “How can we remember to pray for the church everyday? How can we be persistent and consistent in prayer for the things the Lord puts on our hearts?” These were the questions we were discussing together as we talked about several needs in the life of our congregation.
In the midst of that discussion one of the elders discovered a phone app called “Prayminder.” I’m sure there are other apps like this one, but what Prayminder does is send you reminders throughout each day (on your cell phone) to pray for the things you have listed as prayer requests. Since then, several of us on Session have added the app to our phones. And, it’s working. All of us have reported that we are more consistent in praying daily for the needs and dreams of FPC Fresno.
I share that for two reasons. First, if you’re struggling to be consistent in praying for the important needs and desires in your life and in the life of our congregation, Prayminder might be a good tool for you to use. Second, I want to invite you to pray with me for one of the prayer requests on my list.
“Lord, please provide for our staffing opportunities. Please provide just the right person to be our Pink House Director, our High School Ministry Director, our Children's Ministry Director, and our Disciple-Making Minister/Pastor.”
Many of you have probably been aware of our long search for Minister/Pastor of Disciple-Making. It’s an exciting season in that search process as we are currently connecting with another wave of qualified candidates. But you may not realize that we are also in the process of looking for the other positions listed above. So, let me summarize here.
For Children’s & Youth Ministry under Pastor Meagan’s leadership:
- With Margie Nunez’ upcoming retirement (no earlier than June 30 and no later than August 31, 2022) we have now opened and begun interviewing for a new Children’s Ministry Director
- We are also reorganizing the Children & Youth department a bit. For the last few years we’ve had a part-time Youth Ministry Assistant for High School (J.R. Hancock) and a part-time Preschool Coordinator (Emily Bernal). But, for the purpose of repositioning Pastor Meagan to spend more time with young families and the ministry teams under her leadership we are choosing to discontinue J.R. and Emily’s positions to create a full-time High School Director position again. This will pull Pastor Meagan out of frontline leadership of the High School ministry while she continues to be on point for Junior High and have oversight over all Children and Youth ministry.
- Thus, we are looking for a new High School Ministry Director (the position is currently open and interviews have begun).
In summary, here’s what our Children’s and Youth staffing plan looks like:
- Full-time Pastor for Children & Youth, Meagan Bergem
- Full-time High School Ministry Director, to be filled
- Full-time Children’s Ministry Director, Margie Nunez and upcoming replacement
- Part-time Youth Ministry Assistant for Junior High, Robbie Ellis
- Part-time Nursery Coordinator, Chrisie Pereira
For the Pink House Ministry:
- Many of you may remember that after decades of partnering with InterVarsity to lead the residential discipleship program called Pink House, InterVarsity discerned it was time for them to withdraw from direct leadership of the ministry.
- After much discerning prayer, our Session decided that we wanted to adopt the Pink House discipleship program as a ministry of our own.
- The first year it was co-led by current staff Terry Jaurena and Geraud Brumfield. This year we added an Interim Pink House Director, Jacob Wood, to the team (thanks Jacob).
- Now we are searching with Coalition for College Outreach (the organization we partner with for college ministry) to add a Pink House Director who will lead the Pink House ministry and support our college ministry outreach.
If you’re counting, that’s four significant ministry positions that we’re looking to fill as soon as possible. And that’s why I’d love for you to join me in praying about this every day.
Now, you might be wondering how this is going to work while I’m on sabbatical. Well, you can rest assured that I’ll get some facetime with all the current candidates for all these positions before the end of next week. But more importantly, I trust the teams we’ve assembled for each of these positions. Still, this is another good reason to pray for the Lord’s clear direction, for the search teams and the candidates being considered. How exciting it would be to return from sabbatical in September with each of these positions filled! May it be so, in Jesus’ name. Can you join me in praying for that?
Blessings,
Pastor Jeremy
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