Exciting transitions

Two of my churches, Holden and Dale, are a yoked parish in the midst of exciting changes. They just called a new pastor, who officially starts tomorrow. Yesterday they said goodbye to Interim Pastor Rell Spickerman, who has been here for about 15 months.

It has been a delight to work with Rell. He has over 40 years of ministry experience, much of it in the area of counseling, so his perspective has been unique among my pastors, and very helpful.

Rell and his wife, Louise, will head back to their home in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and he hopes to do one more stint as an interim pastor somewhere before retiring for real. ("Small world" moment: before coming to Holden and Dale, Rell was interim pastor of a church I attended during college, St. John in Cedar Falls.)

Pastor Heather Culuris will take the reins at Holden and Dale. I hope she knows what she's in for: Holden has had only eight pastors in its 155-year history, which averages out to almost 20 years each. Dale is just two years younger and has had 13 pastors. So this seems to be a long-term gig!

But Heather comes to us well-informed, since she and her husband, Chris, were Kenyon-area interns several years ago. Incidentally, Chris was just called as pastor of Trinity and Wanamingo Lutheran Churches in Wanamingo, so there's all kinds of excitement 'round these parts lately.

Though I don't work with Chris's congregations, we attend the same text study, so I'm thrilled to add both Heather and Chris to my already lengthy roster of great resources! The folks of Holden and Dale are excited to launch this new chapter of their history, and I'm happy to participate!