HAVING ASSOCIATE MINISTERS

When Gordon Ellis became our pastor in 1990, he was our only pastor, one in a long line of solo pastors.  As the church began to grow and develop, a number of people in our church saw a need not only to have someone assist Gordon, but also to expand our ministries.  In 1993, the Rev. Sherry Taylor, who had served as our Interim Minister before Gordon’s arrival, was invited to join our staff for just 5 hours/week.  That position was funded privately for the first year in memory of Rachel Seller’s dad.  The next year, the Associate Minister position was incorporated into our general budget.  When Sherry moved to New Jersey in 1995, Rev. Mickie Lepore was hired to work 8 hours/week to coordinate our Caring Ministry.  In 1997, as Mickie married and moved, Rev. Cynthia Holden, one of our current Associate Ministers, was hired to replace her for 10 hours/week.  At about the same time, we lost our Youth Ministry Coordinator and heard about Rev. Rick Haverly’s availability.  We designed a new position for him focusing primarily on youth ministry and creating a contemporary worship service.  He would work 15 hours/week.  Our staff has been very stable in the years since then and both positions have expanded to include more hours and more responsibilities.  In the fall of 2002, we also became involved in supervising 3 ministers-in-training, all of whom heard about us and approached us for supervision.  John Arens is a former Roman Catholic priest, who now has his own church. He’ll be preaching here at 8:00AM and 9:00AM on 10/31.  Carol Ann Celella, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, not yet ordained, is still working with us as she nears ordination.  And Linda Fernandes-Bailey, a student at Yale Divinity School then, has just become our newest Associate Minister with an emphasis in Adult Spiritual Formation and Small Group Development.  She works 20 hours/week.  For the next budget year, we hope to expand Cyndie Holden’s caring ministry position.