Church Search Update 4

We're back from a long weekend in Philadelphia and Baltimore with progress to report. We arrived in Philadelphia at about noon on Saturday. Later that afternoon Pop had a productive meeting with Bishop Hicks of the Reformed Episcopal Church and Jon Abboud, archdeacon (assistant to Bishop Riches, whom Peter may remember, having enjoyed "preaching" along with him on Sunday mornings as an infant). Being satisfied with Pop's answers during their three hour long meeting the bishop is able to approve of his candidacy in the REC, and Jon has added his recommendation. On Sunday Pop preached at St. Matthew's (Jon's church) in the morning and in the evening we attended a supper and evangelism training at the church.

On Monday we visited the REC seminary in Blue Bell, PA. Although classes were not in session my former pastor, Dale Crouthamel, was in his office so we had a very happy reunion with him. Philly cheese steaks for lunch and then off to rent a car at the airport for the drive to Baltimore. It began to rain just as we got our luggage in the trunk and rained the rest of the day. But the trip to MD was uneventful and we arrived before dark which made finding the church easier. It's a large brick building, not terribly impressive on the outside, but with an attractive sanctuary and many classrooms, plus a small gym. We met for three hours with the search committee, spent the night with one of the couples, and had breakfast with a good number of the search committee members before returning to Philly for the flight home. The breakfast meeting, being very informal, was a good conclusion to a rather tiring weekend.

The search committee will be contacting Pop's references and we expect to hear if he is being recommended to the Vestry (the church board which hires the pastor) within the next couple of weeks. The next step would be to revisit the church to preach and meet the congregation after which we would expect them to vote.

Things went very well and we're confident the Lord will lead us clearly to the place He wants us to serve Him.