Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC)

A Spiritual Journey

Why did we ever agree to serve on this committee? What were we thinking? We have been meeting once a week for about 16 months. In addition, we each spend 5-10 hours a week, and often more, reviewing materials, listening to sermon tapes, calling candidates, searching church web sites or meditating on what we have seen and heard from potential candidates. Our members have been through illness, surgery, job changes, disheartenment and we still don't have a new Senior Pastor. Indeed, how did we get ourselves into this! Why didn't we just say no and let someone else handle this task?

The book of Jonah is a good place to look for an answer. Jonah was asked directly by God to embark on a difficult task that he didn't feel qualified to handle. We, the PNC, have been asked to do a difficult task that we feel woefully unqualified to handle. Jonah had a choice. Follow God's calling and go Nineveh or run and hide. We had a choice. Serve on the PNC or decline by saying: "I'm not qualified" or "I'm too busy." Jonah made the wrong choice and ran from his calling until God used a more "persuasive" approach to get Jonah to obey. Thankfully, we all heeded God's call and agreed to serve on the committee.

But this isn't the end of the comparison. It turns out that Jonah's job was quite simple. He went to Nineveh and called the people of that city to repent and then he sat and waited for God to turn the people's hearts toward Him. In many ways our job is the same. We are called to let potential candidates know what Central Presbyterian believes in and to describe the mission that God has given our congregation. It is up to God to touch the heart of the next Senior Pastor and lead them to accept a call at Central. Our job is simple if we are willing to trust the Lord.

This is truly a spiritual journey. God has revealed so much of Himself and His plan to us. We only have to listen, trust and follow Him and we will be shown the way. We start 2002 with a strong sense of expectation. We feel God has given us a clear vision of who we are looking for and He has shown us how to find people that match that vision. We are excited about the changes that the Session recently announced because we are convinced that God wanted those changes to occur before He reveals the ideal candidate to us.

We would like to close by sharing a prayer that we wrote very early on for our committee:

"We ask that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know Him better. We pray also that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened in order that we may know the hope to which He has called us, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe." Based on Ephesians 1:17-19.

Please pray for and with us. The Holy Spirit is mightily at work among us all at Central and we can all have the hope that Scripture promises. 2002 will be a special year in the life of Central Presbyterian Church.