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Note from the Moderator
Greetings from the other side of Easter! As we begin to enter Marco Island’s “off season” phase of the year, we at United Church are never “off season.” This Sunday, we will have our very own Rev. Maurice Fetty preach a sermon entitled “The Salt and Light Company”. Rev. Maurice is a retired Congregational UCC Minister who has had pastorates in Brooklyn, Manhasset, Grand Rapids and Edina (Minnesota). Not busy enough, he somehow managed to author thirteen books! He and his wife Sara have a combined fourteen grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. Our chancel choir (with Sara and their daughter Susan) will join Rev. Maurice in worship with a rendering of Love Lifted Me, which includes these soulful lyrics: “All my heart to Him I give, ever to Him I’ll cling. In His blessed presence live, ever His praises sing.”
We also await with anticipation the arrival of our new Interim Minister, the Rev. Ed Brandt, who will join us in worship May 5th and will commission our Bargain Basket Steering Committee that Sunday. When we told Pastor Ed that we have over 100 church members in leadership roles at United Church, and have 227 Bargain Basket volunteers, he could hardly believe it. That kind of inspiring lay ministry harks back to Rev. Kirschner’s uplifting comment at the end of worship last Sunday: “Your next pastor, whoever that may be, will find that you are a lay-led church and can go on if you have a named pastor or not.”
Speaking of settled senior pastors, your Search Committee continues hard at work. We have recently been blessed to begin interviews with a couple of high-quality candidates recommended by the search firm. While the Committee meets regularly every two weeks, we gather at any hour to conduct interviews of promising candidates as soon as they are identified and available to talk with us. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our search for the pastor whom God has in store for us.
Finally, we are pleased to report that our new Finance Committee, having been chartered by the Board of Trustees, has held their inaugural meeting and are excited to begin their important work. We are blessed to have the commitment and expertise of these committee members: Samantha Arago (Dir. of Operations), Cheryl Ballenger, Kathy Curtis, Karen Hearn (Treasurer), Gene Leman (Asst. Treasurer), Cindi Scott (HBK accountant), and Tom Whitlock. Thanks to all of you for your willingness to work to improve our financial reporting and budgeting processes.
As you can see, we at United Church are never “off season.”
Kevin Hennessy,
Moderator
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