I had a phone interview with them towards the end of January. Then no word for two weeks. Then a game of phone tag culminating with an invitation for a second interview. I am the last of three people that they have brought in to interview in person. It's an honor, and also a very new thing for me.
My Call to Camarillo was not exactly typical. I was acquainted with the District President because he was a pastor in the East Valley area of Phoenix for some time. In addition to him knowing my wife's family (and being a classmate of my father-in-law, I think), I had the opportunity to work with him on one or two occasions back in the early 90's. He contacted me about coming to Camarillo to work with a congregation in transition as my deferred Seminary vicarage. The anticipation was that once my vicarage year was up, I would be ordained and installed as pastor - which is what happened.
It wasn't all that happened, but it did happen.
The Call process for our denominational polity is a curious one. Unlike the corporate world, it's not a matter of hustling to sell myself, to send out resumes, etc. There are head-hunter aspects to it - where some congregations seek to draw pastors that they know in some fashion are successful or desirable. There's a networking component whereby who you know can help get your name on a congregation's radar for further study. But as someone awaiting a Call, it's a rather passive process. I've been on job interviews before, but being interviewed by a congregation is not like a typical job interview. I believe very firmly that ultimately, what I may want and what the congregation may want are secondary to what God has in mind, and both sides need to trust that, even when it's difficult.
In some ways this is a relief. If I'm not selected for a Call, it isn't necessarily a comment on me. After all, God may have something all together different in store for me somewhere else. He may have someone even better in mind for the congregation. This removes a great deal of the pressure. It also alters the relationship of the pastor to the congregation from a more corporate model. The pastor is not an employee of the congregation in the typical sense. Both sides acknowledge that God has guided the process of issuing and accepting the Call. Neither side is at leisure to terminate that Call lightly. Even if one side or the other would really like to. If the Holy Spirit is playing a role in all of this, then part of the duty of both the pastor and the congregation is to trust this and allow the Spirit to work - even if it's painful.
We arrived in Seattle about 1:35pm, and were surprised to find large, clumpy snowflakes falling down. Not a few of them. Lots of them. It was as much a surprise to the residents of the area as it was to us. It was beautiful. I've been in the Northwest a fair number of times, but I've never seen it snow. I wish it had stuck, but that's not very common - particularly in March. If I were one to read symbolism into every little thing, I might see some portent in this unusual weather.
Particularly since it snowed again this evening.
But I resist those inclinations, and will simply enjoy the weather as the weather.
We met briefly with the pastor and his family, and then were driven around and shown the area by a member of the Call committee. Finally we had dinner with the Executive Leadership Team of the congregation. Everyone seems very nice. There are lots of things people want to know, but it doesn't make us anxious. We want them to know who we are, just as we want to know them as well.
Tomorrow is a full agenda of meetings with various groups and individuals from the congregation. It will be busy, but we're looking forward to it. We're loving the near-freezing temperatures. We're loving the low-hanging grey clouds over the water, tangling themselves in the tall pines and dribbling down the sides of hills. We're loving the idea that the Master of the Universe is at work in these meetings and conversations and meals, as He has been involved in all things since before the creation of the universe. We're loving the idea that after the meetings and meals, this congregation will issue a Call to someone, and that will hopefully result in a special relationship between a pastor and his family and hundreds of individuals and families in the congregation.
We're loving the idea that whether that person is me and us, or someone else, God is at work. Creating. Sustaining. Redeeming. Sanctifying. Reconciling. What a beautiful, blessed life.
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