Category Archives: Other posts

Acquiring Replacement Pastor(s)

There is considerable discussion among Trinity’s members about the replacement process.  It seems appropriate to spell out this process in general terms for all members.  With the termination of Pastor Watson’s current call effective October 15, 2017, Trinity is in need of a replacement for him, and in the immediate future a temporary pastoral relationship (interim) to serve until such time as a replacement pastor can be installed.  How long this process may take is unknown.  The interim pastor serves to cover this unknown period of time.

According to the Book of Order all pastoral relationships are approved by the Presbytery, and all installed pastors are members of the Presbytery, – rather than the membership of individual churches.  With that approval process, it is incumbent upon our committees, the Interim Pastor Selection Committee, and the Pastoral Nominating Committee to work in close partnership with the St. Augustine Presbytery to achieve their final approval of our work.

Given this partnership, we will have two committees working to replace our installed pastor.  The Interim Pastor Selection Committee was appointed at the regular session meeting, Monday September 18, following Rev. Watson’s announcement that he would be requesting termination of his call as of October 15, 2017.  This committee consists of five session members, Ken Mettler (Co-chair), Bob Settles (Co-chair), Jennifer Kaczmarek, Bob Tabit, and Shirley Wilson.  With any questions about this interim process, please feel free to contact any of these committee members.   An interim pastor is employed under contract which must be negotiated, and is not an installed pastoral position.

At an appropriate time in the near future, the session will call a congregational meeting.  That meeting will elect a Pastoral Nominating Committee that shall be representative of the whole congregation.  The committee’s duty shall be to nominate a pastor for election by the congregation.  The Book of Order details the Call Process, Terms of Call, and the Installation Service.  After approval of our nominee by the Presbytery, the interim pastor will be relieved of his/her responsibilities, and Trinity’s Pastoral relationship will be restored.

Membership Committee

It is with a heavy but thankful heart that I announce our departure from Trinity in order that we may accept a new call to First Presbyterian Church, Ocala, Florida.

Jules and I have been blessed to serve you all these many years, and we love our Trinity family. God is good, and God will see us through to our new call, even as God directs you all to your next minister.

Our final Sunday will be October 15th. We will have one service that day so that we may say our goodbyes together in the unity of Christ Jesus our Lord. It has been a great privilege to be with you, and we will miss you all. We wish you well and will always be praying for you, knowing that your witness for Christ will continue according to his will.

Yours in Christ,

Ron and Jules Watson

The session has made the decision that all worship services be canceled this Sunday. Furthermore, we will not be re-opening for business before next Wednesday, September 13, and only if it is practical to do so.

Though we will not be together in body, we will be together in spirit on Sunday morning, praying for God’s mercy for our community and our country from the storm.

Please stay safe and pray for those affected by Hurricane Irma.

Yours in Christ,
Ron Watson
Pastor

Trinity’s bridge group is looking for a few good men, – and women, couples even.  We meet monthly from October through April each year.  Then we celebrate the end of another successful season with a Presbyterian party and unexpected prizes.  Interested individuals, men, women, and couples should call Bob or Lois Settles at 386 437-4494.  Get in on the ground floor with an opening bid, – two no-trump!  Remember who dealt the cards last?

Bryce Wiebe, the Director, Special Offerings at PCUSA has developed a special thank you web page for Trinity’s gift to the Presbyterian Giving Catalog which helps expand the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s witness to God’s gracious and abundant work in the world. This generous support feeds the hungry, comforts the brokenhearted and shares God’s love with young and old around the world.  You may view this PCUSA thank you page designed specifically for Trinity by clicking the following link:

http://specialofferings.pcusa.org/thanks/10591-TrinityPalmCoast.html

On April 10, Trinity’s Session added the use of a paperless Membership Information Form for those with internet access.  This streamlines the original process,- which required finding the proper paper form or forms (one for each prospective member), completing the forms, and returning these completed forms to the appropriate folks in the church.  As with all handwriting, the forms often required some interpretation, extrapolation, or pure guesses as to what was intended.  The new form(s) are completed at home through the website (Membership menu, Membership information form online), and the information is typed into the keyboard by an individual who may proof his own work.  When each form is completed, – pressing the SUBMIT button automatically distributes the information to our pastor, the Clerk of the Session, the Membership Committee, and Trinity’s office staff.  This new process is available to all individuals with an email address, OR to anyone without an email address who can find a friend with a computer or a cellphone.  Transmission and distribution of the information is perfectly legible, and may require a few nano-seconds to deliver to Trinity’s several recipients.

HolyCow! Congregational Assessment Tool

Thank you for completing the CAT survey for the church.  The deadline for additional submissions has passed.  All completed assessments are being tabulated and analyzed now.   Our church leadership will be given the results very soon, and be presented to the congregation in the near future.

Watch out for some new projects being introduced as a result of the C.A.T.

For those who have not yet picked up their new name tags, please note that all have been removed from the old name tag racks and placed in an alphabetized box of name tags in the narthex.  The old racks will soon be removed.

LAST WEEK !

Take the church wide Survey

You have been invited to take the HolyCow! Congregational  Assessment Tool, or C.A.T. as we like to call it.  Trinity Presbyterian Church needs your participation to discover where we stand now and what direction might be important in our future.

The assessment will take about 35 minutes and needs to be completed in one sitting.  If you have already completed the CAT assessment , thank you, if you have not…

When you are ready, click on this

 blue link and begin!

        https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TrinityPresPalm

 Many thanks, TPC Visioning Committee –

Pastor RonWatson, Ross Royce, Del Smith, Tracy Martin

Please contact any one of us if you have a question.