TGIF

This past week the Pastor Search Committee provided you our first update on our search for a new Pastor.  You learned from that email that Don Mauldin believes God wants him to keep preaching, and so he is praying for God to guide his steps in that regard.  We learned from Don that a small church in Gainesville has approached him with possible interest in his becoming their new part-time Pastor.  Don informed us only because it would mean he could not continue to be a supply Pastor for us if he were offered and accepted this new position.  So we informed Don of our position, and asked if he might be interested in us as well.  He responded with – Thanks for your email.  You and the church are very kind.  I always enjoy being with you ll.  If you want to consider me for your Pastor, I would be honored.  I am not looking but I believe that God wants me to preach so I am asking Him where.

Don is seeking to find God’s will for him in moving forward in his Christian walk, which is the same thing Covenant Church is seeking at this time – to find God’s will for us as we move into the next chapter of our church life.

Our Search Committee has been very focused on learning and carrying out God’s will in finding our new Pastor.  We want to find the person we believe God will send if we follow His plan for us.  That person may, or may not, be Don Mauldin.  Don has recently preached twice at Covenant, and brought his wife Diane  and daughter Missy with him to church both times.  So we have had an introduction to Don through these two services, or actually a re-introduction since Don did serve as our Pastor back around the year 2000 when Jim Sproull left to move to Atlanta where his job had transferred him.

Don will now preach for the next 3 Sundays so we can get more of a chance to meet and know him and his family.  We will get to hear him in the pulpit, and to visit with Don, Diane, and Missy each of those Sundays.  The Search Committee will also meet with Don in person during this time to more specifically discuss our position, and our needs.  We will ask him questions, and he will ask us questions as well.  If you have any questions you would like to ask Don, please speak with any Search Committee member, or just ask Don yourself one of the next 3 Sundays.

Please pray for Covenant Church these next few weeks, and also pray for Don.  Pray that both Covenant Church and Don Mauldin are led to where He wants us each to go in moving forward in our Christian walk.  If it is meant to be that Covenant Church and Don Mauldin are meant to reunite, may God make that clear to each of us.  If there is a better path for each of us, may He make that clear to us as well. 

As you go through these next few days and weeks praying, consider these passages from God’s Word as insight into a Pastor’s responsibilities.

2 Timothy 4:2 – Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

Acts 20:28 – Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

May God continue to bless Covenant Church!!