Time Travel...

I feel as though I somehow walked into a time warp and was propelled a year into the future. Yes, it's been just over a year since I last blogged and I am still on board with my stated philosophy of "no regrets."

What's on my mind and why has it taken a year to get me back to writing? First let me say, although there have been an abundance of special times and many challenges in my family life this past year they do not form the central theme upon which I ponder on a daily basis. Yet my daily pondering does intimately involve my family life. Intrigued? Let’s dive in…

What has been foremost on my mind over this past year has been the future of Kingston Presbyterian Church as it struggles through transition following the retirement of a long term pastorate of over 35 years. This struggle is not the result of the congregation being surprised by the change; the pastor was preparing the church leadership for change for more than 5 years and prepared the entire congregation for over a year. Rest assured, I am not looking to “air our dirty laundry” but rather write as a caution to others that they might avoid similar challenges.

There are many in our congregation who feel the struggles we have faced are the direct result of our Interim Pastor. Although I believe he has been a contributing factor, I feel the main reason for our struggles are the choices made by key leaders who failed to recognize the significance of key events or to address them with the seriousness they deserved. As we progressed through the year these key leaders and their actions continued to have a “snowball” affect and the congregation continued to split. In less than 18 months the lack of responsiveness and growing conflict caused the resignation of our Choir Director of 12 years.

What a wake-up call! Except it wasn’t, it became another opportunity to continue the spread of misinformation and hide from the real truth. Where will it end? Only time will tell. Now, where is that time warp???