Advent Lutheran Church - Mentor, OH - Pastor's Corner

We at Advent celebrate another Natural Church Development offering in the area of Biblical prayer and faith development. Please consider attending the offerings in support of passionate spirituality. See you there.

Pastor Kovitch
(April 2009)

Advent Lutheran Church Presents:

Biblical Storytelling:
Telling The Sacred Story

This workshop will present the rationale and basic skills for learning and telling stories from the Bible, and explore this art as a resource for education, worship, spiritual formation and caring ministries. By internalizing and telling these stories directly from the text of the scriptures, they come to life with new breath and vitality, filling the heart with the living Word of God.

All are welcome. Open to listeners and tellers alike!

Saturday, April 18, 2009
Workshop: 2:00 PM - 5:30 PM
To register: 257-5565

Bonus: Jim Kulma will perform a selection of the Resurrection stories during the Saturday Worship service at 6:00 PM.

Advent Lutheran Church
7985 Munson Road, Mentor, Ohio

Presenter: Jim Kulma is a member of the Network Of Biblical Storytellers (nbsint.org) and has performed across Northern Ohio for 15 years. He is the Director of Spiritual Life at the Lutheran Home at Concord Reserve in Westlake, Ohio. He currently serves as Advent’s Storyteller-In-Residence.

Dear Advent Family,

I wanted to take the opportunity to update you on the next steps as we begin our search for a new pastor.   I have been in touch with the Synod and I want to share with you what I have learned.

At the time of a pastoral vacancy in a congregation, the Bishop, working with the congregation council, recommends an interim pastor to provide basic leadership and pastoral care until pastor is called and has accepted the call to Advent.   Until an interim pastor has been assigned, a supply pastor will conduct services and serve as a contact for the congregation.   Pastor Larry Mackey has agreed to be our supply pastor only until an interim pastor has been identified.   Pastor John Anderson will serve as the supply pastor for the last week in May, when Pastor Mackey is scheduled to be on vacation.

The Bishop will be meeting with the church council to discuss the call process.   Bishop Eaton will provide us with guidance and direction as we begin to put together a call team.   The call team will reflect a cross-section of the Advent membership and will be comprised of six congregation members (and possibly two alternates) who will be asked to seek, interview and recommend to the congregation a candidate for the position of pastor.

Having not been involved in this process before, I was surprised to learn that this process is not something which is done quickly.   I ask all of you to remain patient as we begin our search for the person who will become the next pastor of Advent Church.   I know that God has already put a plan in place for this person and will lead them to us; for He alone knows who that person will be.   We are now called upon to pray and to open our hearts so that we may be ready and willing to follow the path which God has prepared for us.

Peace and Blessings,

Sandy Kehler
Advent Council President
(June 2009)

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

By now all of you should have found out that I have taken a call to Campus Ministry at Cleveland State University as a Development Coordinator for the Ohio Campus Ministry.   As painful it is to leave Advent, I have no other choice but to follow God’s will as a called and ordained servant, and I believe to the core of my faith that God is in this decision.

Each pastor has a time to serve and when that time is complete, God steps in to bring needed change.   I am a very blessed pastor for having served you, Advent Lutheran Church.   We have come a long way together through shared ministry and your loving support during my rehab and beyond.   My prayer for you is that our work together has laid a strong foundation for the future of Advent.

Though pastors have a role to play in building the spiritual direction of a congregation, it is the people who lead and grow the mission.   God is here inspiring you through Word and sacrament as well as calling you forward to continue the good work.    Those of you who have invested so much of your time, talents, and treasures, I thank you, and I ask you to renew your energy and continue the work of the mission.    Those of you who have not yet gotten involved and believe in the ministry, join the work as mission builders.   For the members of the staff and volunteer leadership of Advent, I am deeply filled with gratitude and appreciation for your hard work and dedication and friendship.   As for Pastor Larry Mackey, thank you for your unwavering support and for being my continued friend and colleague.

I celebrate you, Advent, for what you have been, what you are, and what you will become.    You are strong in leadership and mission and have a ministry recognized by many as innovative and creative.   Although I am sad to leave, I know that God is at work for you and has already chosen your next spiritual leader, and this new pastor will build on what we have, through the power of the Holy Spirit, accomplished together.

As Paul writes in I Corinthians: I Corinthians 3:4 For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human?   5 What then is Apollos?    What is Paul?   Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each.   6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.   7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.   8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each.   9 For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.   10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it.    Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.

Advent doesn’t belong to you or me, it belongs to God alone.   We are merely servants of Christ.   We have built upon the foundation of others and others will build on our current foundation.   As for me, please know that I leave and go forward stronger because of our time together, our work together, and our prayer together.   Praise God!

As always, I remain your brother in Christ,
Pastor Kovitch
(May 2009)