FOOTHILL FOCUS

Number 3 MARCH 2010 Volume 18

 

In the beginning . . .

When God put this whole ball-of-a-world in motion it seemed like everyday was something new,

and there was! All those new things had to have a new relationships with each other . . so it was

like a cheese pizza, all the cheese connects everything once its baked. Now I know that Genesis

doesn’t record it all that way but then it didn’t record all the newness at Foothill either.

Wow, it must have been great to be present for all that creative work that God did in such a shortamount of time. I’m excited now for what God wants to do in the life of a people called Foothill, hestill has all the creative juices and the will to speak them into existence and so I pray with you for hishand to be active and his voice to be clear in this season headed for new beginnings at Foothill.

Serving as your Transition Pastor, I’d like to continue to introduce myself to you in as many ways as Ican, hoping that you too will have the opportunity to let me in on who you are by telling some storiesthat describe what you value in God and in life.

I resigned from Peninsula Covenant almost four years ago, just as my oldest was heading off tocollege. I was seriously wondering what God had in mind with this kind of timing. It’s been a wild ride. We sold our house believing that God had something new in mind. We rented for a year andmoved out after a year believing that God had something else (another headed to college) perhaps outof the area. Our third made it clear to us that she was not going with us, wherever that might be. God has not moved us out of the area, in fact he has rooted us in a different way, Kathy got a job she wasnot looking for at Varian Medical. Hmmm. What is God up to?

We are willing for a ride, but our wondering has increased as we continue to wander. We are livingwith friends of ours. We live in the downstairs and they with their four kids, four and under, liveupstairs. Our 18 year old daughters are roommates in a downstairs bedroom. Now that it seems like we are staying, we are beginning to look for a home to purchase. Our youngest will be heading tocollege in the fall.

We don’t always volunteer for transition. In the Sinai, when the pillar of cloud or fire began to move,they packed and fell into line. God was their shade (air conditioner) in the day and their heater (andprotection) at night. God has moved us in the last few years, and while I’m not eager to move again,God is a provider and protector and I can’t wait to see what he’s going to do.

Thanks for welcoming me to your family for this season of our lives. Tim

Update on the Transition Team

The Transition Team has now completed the principle effort required of them – the drafting of thechurch profile to be used by the FCC Search Committee and PSWC in our search for our next pastor.The profile was made available to the congregation at our Semi-Annual Congregational Meeting andhas been delivered to Alan Forsman who will be assisting FCC in our pastoral search.

Many thanks to the members of the Transitional Team for their hard work, open and honestdiscussions, and their ability to come together in articulating the responses in our church profile.

Thanks also to the congregation with the significant response to the church-wide survey. This wasthe singularly important input toward defining our responses as to who we are as a congregation andthe direction we sense God leading us. The survey responses reflected in particular a broad diversityin thoughts and opinions, mostly around differences in age demographics.

It is important to note that this multi-generational makeup can serve as strength for us in the futureof Foothill. As the size of the congregation grows with regard to young families, there is anopportunity for mentoring and drawing from the life experience of so many of our seniors. This broad age demographic also enables us to connect with the wide variety of individuals that we prayGod will bring through our doors.

Additional copies of the church profile and any requests of the survey summary document can beobtained from Mark Liedstrand.

. . . and the pastoral search process:

As the Transition Team has clarified its work, the pastoral search process has become clearer. We bid farewell to Pastor Gaderlund on Sunday, February 14th. The following Sunday we welcomedRev. Tim Sandquist as our transition pastor. He will serve an initial interim of two or three months.Soon a congregational meeting will be called to appoint a Pastoral Search Team as nominated by theNominating Committee. The Pastoral Search Team will review pastoral resumes, conductinterviews, and bring a candidate. Stay tuned for details.

. . . and the By-Laws Update Process

The By-Laws Update Taskforce has finished a second draft of the updated by-laws Changes weremade in response to the congregational conversation on Dec. 13th. One more congregationalconversation will be held in March or April before a final proposal is ready to present to thecongregation for approval. The process will be to present the final draft ninety days before a vote istaken at a congregational meeting. Copies of the second draft are available in the church office.