As you all have read in my letter and the letter from the Session, we have two very important congregational meetings coming up. We don’t have many congregational meetings at Crossgate, so I wanted to clarify what is about to happen.  

Next Sunday, August 8, we will have the first of these meetings to elect a Search Committee for the next Senior Pastor at Crossgate.  As you already know, the recommendation of the Session and the motion that will be presented to you is that the Session serve as this committee.  And if so elected, the Session intends to recommend at the next congregational meeting two weeks later that David Story be elected to serve as your next pastor.  This is the direction that the Session believes God is moving our church.  We believe that David is a man of God who can effectively lead this church in the days/years ahead.  But having said that, you as the congregation have the responsibility to either confirm or overturn this.  It is not a “done deal” until the congregation votes.  This is one of the great privileges and responsibilities of a member of Crossgate.  You have a voice and get to have a say in who will pastor this church.

So next Sunday, you will vote by ballot on the Search Committee and if the motion of the Session passes by a majority vote, the Session will serve in this capacity.  But in the interim two weeks before the next meeting, the Session would like to hear from you if you should have concerns/questions or simply want to affirm the direction we are moving in.  We believe that God uses the counsel of godly men and women to reveal His will for a church and so we want to hear what you have to say.  In this way, we believe that Crossgate can move forward as one – in the unity of His Spirit.  This doesn’t mean that everyone agrees on every single thing, but it does mean that we “be subject to one another in the fear of Christ” (Ephesians 5:21) and that we “give preference to one another in honor.” (Romans 12:10)  In other words, we must be willing to accept the vote of the majority in the congregation as, not only the will of God for Crossgate, but His will for individual members.