First Presbyterian Church - 346 Broadway - Haverhill, MA 01832 - Telephone (978) 374-8029

Our New Pastor

As the Chair of the Pastor Nominating Committee, I am very pleased and thrilled to provide the following information to the Congregation. As the Psalmist said, “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!” (Psalm 126:3)

Over the past 11 months, the Committee has met on a weekly basis, beginning each meeting with prayer, asking God for his blessing and guidance for us and the congregation, as well as a short Bible study, and ending each meeting with prayer thanking God for his continued support and guidance throughout the process.  Also during the past 11 months the PNC has:

• Written the Church Information Form (or CIF), which outlined a description of our church, our mission and our vision for the congregation;
• Received approval of the Presbytery’s Committee on Ministry of the CIF;
• Listed our CIF on the PC(USA) website,
• Received, reviewed and screened over 45 Personal Information Forms (PIFs) of prospective candidates;
• Narrowed the 45 PIFs down to 12 that matched the congregation’s needs and visions;
• Reconsidered the 12 remaining and chose to conduct phone interviews with 8, of which we conducted 6 (the 2 others were not available);
• Decided upon two and sought to invite both to preach at a neutral pulpit and have an in-person interview.

Part of the process in calling a new pastor, is obtaining the approval of the Committee on Ministry (COM) at the Presbytery.  When we submitted our candidate, we ran into a slight “speed bump”. The COM informed us of an obscure paragraph in the Book of Order which does not allow an Associate Pastor who served under the last Installed Pastor, to become the next Installed Pastor of that congregation, without another pastor being installed in between - even though the Associate (Susan) had been gone from our church for 8 years.

Still feeling called by God to have Rev. Gleason as our Pastor, the PNC worked very closely with the COM to determine the best way to continue down this path, and determined the only way to proceed would be by calling Susan to be Stated Supply.   Now, Stated Supply simply means that although the individual is our full-time pastor, has all the responsibilities of a full time pastor in ministering to the congregation, their contract must be renewed each year as long as the Session, Pastor and the COM agree.   It should also be noted that there is no limit on the number of years the contract can be renewed.  In addition, with Stated Supply, the Session performs the act of calling the individual and handling the contract issues, rather than through a congregational vote.  Therefore, the PNC consulted with the COM and Session to proceed with calling Rev. Gleason to our church.

On July 6th, the Session met to discuss the situation with the PNC, interviewed Rev. Gleason, and unanimously approved to call her as Stated Supply.  

In addition, on July 17^th, the Chair of the PNC and Rev. Gleason met with the Committee on Ministry at which time COM approved our choice, approved the terms of call, and welcomed Rev. Gleason into the Presbytery of Northern New England.  The PNC and the Session are very excited about all of this and feel that God has answered our prayers with Rev. Gleason to be Pastor of our congregation!  Susan will start full-time on September 7.

However exciting this all may be, it is also a time of mixed emotions, since it means that the Interim period the church has been in for the past three years is coming to an end.  Although we should all be thrilled with the completion of the Interim process and obtaining a new full-time Pastor, we will all be sorry to see Pastor Trish leave.  Trish has done an outstanding job of leading the congregation and the Session through the interim and transition process, which gets us to the place we are right now.  That is the job of the Interim – to move the congregation through the transition process and prepare them for the next step in their congregational life and spiritual journey to call and receive a new full-time pastor, and then move on to their next calling.  As a former interim pastor of this congregation so aptly put it, “An Interim walks in the door saying ‘good-bye’”.  We are now at that point in time... it is time for Trish to move on to her next calling.  Trish’s last Sunday in the pulpit will be August 15^th, and she will use her remaining vacation time from that point until the end of her contract term at the end of August.  (Worship for August 22, 29 and September 5, will be led by members of the Session.) A farewell reception for Trish is being planned and more information will be coming on that.

Therefore, as a result of the efforts of the PNC, the approval of the Committee on Ministry, and with the unanimous approval of the Session, I am pleased to announce that our work as the PNC is complete, and also invite you all to join us for worship on Sunday, August 1, when the Reverend Susan Lynn Gleason will lead worship.

Respectfully submitted,

David M. Weidner

Chair, Pastor Nominating Committee

Committee Members:

 Hillary Benson

 Betty Kohl

 Priscilla Ngome

 Sana Wakim