Serendipity is the Holy Spirit's Middle Name

Yikes! I like the Southeastern Minnesota Synod but who would have thought that my next interim church would be in the southeastern United States—Florida! I am being considered at Palm Coast, Florida, which is on the Atlantic Ocean, 30-some miles north of Daytona Beach.

Just over a week ago my sister Jill and her husband returned from visiting her nursing school (Mary and her husband Tom) in Palm Coast, FL. Mary told Jill that their church, St. Mark by the Sea, was looking for a full-time intentional interim pastor and Jill told me. I sent an e-mail with my resume and ELCA mobility papers to the Florida-Bahamas Synod Bishop on April 17 after I returned from a non-meeting in Rochester (MN).

After a long phone call this past Tuesday (4/22) and some back and forth e-mail messages, the bishop is recommending me as the sole candidate to St. Mark by the Sea Lutheran Church church council this Sunday.

The bishop’s assistant, Bob Schaefer, said they will probably fly me down for an interview next week just in case they might find me to be a real dork or something. He was amazed that I just dropped in on them and he kept talking about the Holy Spirit’s working in this. The synod has been looking for an experienced, full-time, intentional interim pastor for three months and then I appeared. Amazing.

This sure is much more exciting than the small rural congregations of Red Oak Grove (Blooming Prairie, MN) or Harmony, MN would have been as interim sites!

On top of all this, Mary and Tom have offered me their home for the first month this summer when they are in Minnesota. They have a very, very nice 2 bedroom home that is biking distance from the church AND THE BEACH. In that first month, I'll be able to find my own place.

Sue and I are talking about her coming down for most of the winter—after the heat. She can do her telephone coaching (2 days/week) from Florida as well as here.

Truly, "Serendipity" is the Holy Spirit's middle name.

The church has about 330 members (160 average worship attendance) and has experienced some pastoral leadership issues for the past six years—as well as a theological schism..

St. Mark by the Sea is a two-year term call with the possibility of it to becoming a regular call. And we are seriously thinking about making it a regular call until I retire in 8-10 years.