image: “Binoculars” by Peter Miller on Flickr

Today was “Vison Sunday” at SLW—not that “vision” is contained just to this one day each year, but it’s the Sunday when we take some time to celebrate God’s faithfulness over the past year and get a glimpse of what’s to come. As part of that, we hosted our Local Church Conference. What follows are the personal reflections given as part of my report this year:

If 2013-2014 could be summed up in a single word as far as life at SLW is concerned, I’m pretty sure we would all agree “transition” would say it nicely: Senior leadership transition, adjustments in various ministry environments, celebrating the Alsdorfs’ move to church planting in Meadville, and identifying new interim (and searching for permanent) ministry team members are just a few of the things we’ve navigated together.

Transition is never easy, but ours has been one of the smoothest seasons of leadership and ministry transition I have ever seen. As I have shared with others, though this is a testimony of God’s grace, faithfulness, and favor to us… it is also evidence of your gracious spirit and desire to lean into “next” with one another. Additionally, it speaks volumes about the caliber of our senior leaders: Pastors Shawn & Beth finished well, but that is only half the story—Pastor Jesse started well and has led our ministry team with a focus, determination, and grace which has allowed God to use us as a church for amazing things.

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