August 2, 2023

 

 

Dear members and friends of Immanuel, 

 

It has been a wonderful 9 years serving as your pastor here at Immanuel.  I started in June of 2014 (10 summers ago!) as your regular pulpit supply as we both awaited the call process to work itself out and then finally on September 1, 2014 I was called as your official pastor, ordained later that month and installed on Reformation Sunday 2014.  

 

Immanuel was my first pastor gig!  It felt so right!  It was fun and meaningful!  It was new and you embraced me with all my growing edges, crazy ideas, and new energy!  And over the years, we have grown together.  We have continued to have fun, try new things and you have grown with me, encouraged me and supported me as I developed into my calling as a pastor.

 

Of course, when we are in relationship with each other, it isn’t all fun and games, and we have experienced from each other disappointment, hurt and times that weren’t always fun, but these are precisely the times growth happens, these are the times we love each other through it, and these are the times that make us better and bring us to who we are today.

 

I have done a lot of praying and discerning the last year or so and have discovered that God is calling me to a new place, a new ministry, a new congregation.  You have done well in raising up a first call pastor who has found her wings and is ready to move on to a new journey with a new people in a new place.

 

I will be forever grateful to you Immanuel for being the place I learned to fly!  You will do well as you seek a new pastor, as you take time to tell your story and rediscover who you are and who you want to become!  We all are always changing and growing and I know that God is up to something very good here and God has prepared the heart of a new leader who will come and join you and walk with you into a new time and place!

 

My last day at Immanuel will be Thursday, August 31st.  I look forward to taking the next few weeks to say goodbye, grab a last lunch or visit and finally, worship with you all one last time on Sunday, August 27th.

 

Thank you and eternally grateful,

 

Pastor Liz