Making the Move: The Letter

^{Having announced my resignation in church, I thought that perhaps I should share my letter of resignation here.}

^“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:3-6

25 November 2007

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I come to the writing of this letter with both joy and sadness. I have been offered a call as pastor of the University Lutheran Center at Iowa State University in Ames, IA, and after a period of prayer and discernment I have decided to accept that call, effective in early January 2008.

I have felt a strengthening pull toward campus ministry for the past two years, since the death of my own campus pastor, Larry Meyer, in April 2005. When Ainsley was born this past January, it seemed that the time to consider a move had come. But Kristin and I did not come to this decision lightly or without a fair amount of surprise. When I applied to the ELCA campus ministry roster earlier this year, I expected a fairly long period of interviews, due to the somewhat limited number of calls available in campus ministry. We also wanted to move closer to either my family in eastern Nebraska or Kristin’s family in western Oregon, which limited our options even further. We knew we wouldn’t stay in Minnesota forever, but we were in no hurry to move. God, it seems, had other plans in mind.

Our tentative schedule is to end my time in Barrett on Sunday, January 6, 2008 and move to Ames the following week, with installation at the University Lutheran Center on January 14^th. I have informed the council of this decision already, and this public notification of the entire congregation will be followed with a copy of this letter in the December newsletter, which will be mailed tomorrow.

It has been a great privilege to serve you as your pastor these past four and a half years, and this new adventure brings bittersweet emotions for me. Kristin and I are excited to be moving closer to family and friends in Nebraska, and I feel my gifts for ministry will be well-suited to a campus ministry setting, but we have made many lifelong friends here in Barrett and we are grieving as we begin to say goodbye. You took me in when I was a young, enthusiastic, wet-behind-the-ears seminary graduate and turned me into a pastor. You shaped and molded me into someone who is just beginning to discover the honor and deep joy of the office I hold in this church. You let me make mistakes and learn from them. We didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but we’ve walked together along the road of discipleship and I’m thankful for the times we pulled each other back onto that road when one of us went astray.

Kristin and I both love the passage from Philippians I quoted above. In it Paul expressed both his joy in a once-shared partnership and his trust that ministry would continue because God is always involved, even when partnerships come to an end. We will hold you in our prayers, and ask that you hold us in your own, so that as this partnership comes to an end, your work and our work making Christ known for the sake of the world will continue to grow through the power of the Holy Spirit.

You have been so good to Kristin, Ainsley and me; the words “thank you” just don’t seem to be enough. But it’s what we have, so we offer them in great love.

Thank you, and God bless you all.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Scott