Jeremiah 3:15 NIV – Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.
Meridian Avenue Baptist Church had been without a Lead Pastor for two years this week. In that time we have been blessed by having Rev. Dick Sipe help us through the rewrite of our Constitution and Bylaws, Rev. Jim Zier helped us celebrate the 2022 Christmas Season and pastor us through February of 2023 when Rev. Fred Becker came and pastored our church until the end of 2023. We have been blessed through the ministries of these men and I, for one, am grateful for the time they spent with us.
This year we shall walk beside Rev. Rick Neubauer, our new lead pastor. We each have expectations of the days and months ahead and there is hope of wonderful things to come our way.
The pastor and church agreement that Pastor Rick, Janet (Chair of Pastoral Search) and Randy (Chair of Leadership Team) will sign has this sentence in it. “In awareness of the support needed for ministry together, the congregation and minister mutually agree to support one another in private and public prayer.” It is a promise that we, the congregation of Meridian Avenue Baptist Church, will support our minister in private and public prayer.
The relationship between a pastor and the congregation is a partnership of mutual caring and compassion. A pastor, any pastor, cannot lead a congregation unless the congrations is willing to follow. We, the congregation and our pastor, are fully in this together as we seek God’s direction for us in Christ’s church.
So, pray for our pastor, pray for one another, pray for God’s guidance and pray for wonderful things to happen at Meridian Avenue Baptist Church as we near our centennial anniversary year and beyond.