God Moving At Maranatha

Have We Found Our Future Lead Pastor?

Following a process that lasted several months, Council is recommending to the congregation someone to be our Pastor of Discipleship with a view to his eventually becoming our Lead Pastor. I want to introduce him to you, but first let me tell you the truly surprising story of how we got where we are today.

In January, Council tasked a Hiring Team to find a Director of Discipleship as described in the Join the Journey vision document.  They felt that the ideal candidate would be someone ordained, who could eventually become Maranatha’s Lead Pastor.  However, they recognized that such a person would be hard to find and told the team that they would accept a qualified person who was not ordained.

Believing it would best serve the church, the Hiring Team made it their laser focus to find a potential future Lead Pastor. The Lord blessed their faith-step beyond all expectations. They quickly identified a few high-quality candidates, and shortly after identified a person they were eager to recommend to Council for the Pastor of Discipleship role. A process that often takes years was completed in months.

Council interviewed the candidate this past Wednesday and wholeheartedly endorsed him. They are now recommending him to you for a call to Maranatha.  His name is Mike Nanninga. He will be preaching here on Sunday May 1. An open house will follow the service where members of the congregation will be able to get to know Mike better and ask questions.

Pastor Mike is currently the serving Cephas Christian Reformed Church in Peterborough. He is married to Loretta and has two boys ages four and two. He has served in two churches over a period of about seven years.

This Sunday during the worship service, Council Chair Steven Twiss will make the formal announcement about the calling process. A fuller biography of Pastor Mike along with a letter that provides a detailed schedule of events related to the process, can be picked up from your mail slots after the morning service. (If you would like to hear some of Pastor Mike’s sermons, I encourage you to visit the Cephas Church website.)

Ultimately the congregation will have to decide if we will extend a call to Pastor Mike. Let’s be much in prayer for this important step in our church’s life. —Pastor Tom