Dear Friends,
It is with great joy that I am writing to you to confirm
my acceptance of your call to become your pastor. I am very excited about this opportunity to
serve Christ Jesus among you. Throughout
the call process, Dawn and I have been overwhelmed by the congregation’s
generosity and thoughtfulness. We were
humbled by the warm welcome and tremendous hospitality that you extended to us
when we were with you June 1st through 3rd.
In keeping with the standards of my current parish’s
constitutions, I have given 30 days notice of the effective date of my
resignation as pastor here. Therefore, I
will continue to serve St. John’s and Trinity Churches through Thursday, July
19. I have requested that the beginning
date of my ministry at Calvary Church be Friday, July 20. Not only am I desirous of beginning my
service among you, but also when one is changing denominational affiliation, it
seems important to plan for a seamless transition. Since I have only taken June 2nd and 3rd as
vacation time this year, and I was only able to take 3 out of my 4 vacation
weeks last year, my current parish has graciously allowed me to take Monday,
July 9th through Thursday, July 19th as vacation time. This will allow us to begin moving on Friday,
July 13th. We are indeed very grateful
to you for covering our moving expenses.
Following the loading by the moving company on July 13th, we will drive
out to Brookfield on July 14th. We will
be worshipping at another NALC congregation on Sunday, July 15th, in order to
allow you to be fully present with Pastor Braasch on that day. Pastor Braasch has served you incredibly well
as your interim pastor, and it is important that you have the opportunity to
enjoy your time with her, without the distraction of our family being present.
Dawn and I want to express our sincere appreciation to
you for all of the work and expense that you are investing in the parish
house. Your thoughtfulness and
generosity in this regard means so much to us.
It is a marvelous house, and we will be very thankful to have it as our
home. Again, we felt very welcomed
during the weekend that we visited with you, and are grateful to be invited to
become a part of your church family.
I know that you are already very much aware of the superb
work that the Pastoral Search Team undertook on your behalf this past year,
however, I want to also commend their work to you. I have never known of another call committee
who has invested the number of hours into the process, as this team has. Additionally, the amount of time that each of
them invested in personal study, prayer, and the carrying out of their
individual assignments is incredible. I
know that you are indeed thankful for their work, and I encourage you to not
only offer prayers of thanksgiving to God for their work’s sake – but also
please take a moment to extend your thanks to each one of them personally.
As I prepare to begin my service among you, I not only
invite your prayers, but also your assistance.
While I will be reading through the obituaries in the daily newspaper
upon my arrival, I will have difficulty in identifying those who are relations
of our members. I would be thankful for
your assistance in this regard, that I may offer care to our members and attend
funeral visitations on your behalf.
Additionally, I would love it if you could communicate to me concerning anyone
whom you know to be hospitalized or otherwise in need of prayer or pastoral
care, as well. I always tell my
parishioners that I would rather be told about the same situation one hundred
times, than to neglect any of our members in their time of need. I am very excited by the ministry that happens
at Calvary Church, and also by how many people are involved in carrying it
out. I would very much appreciate your ongoing
help in identifying who I can thank for their efforts. Essentially, I will need a lot of help from
you if I am to serve you faithfully and effectively.
In Christ Jesus,
Dennis M. Roser
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