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Dear Gene,
I need to bring you up to
date on what has been happening with me. Before Pastor Froehlich had
contacted me about the intentional interim position at St. James, St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, IL had contacted me. I met with three
members of their church when I was out in Chicago for the National Association of
Lutheran Interim Pastors conference in May. Following that meeting I heard
nothing for some time. I then heard from you and came up and visited. While I
was down in Guatemala, St. James voted to extend
! a contr act and at the same time I was
contacted again by the people of St. Andrews asking if I was still open to
consider them and could I come out for another visit. Since I had not yet
made a commitment, I said I could meet with them, but the earliest I could
get out there was this past week. They voted yesterday to extend a contract
to me. I certainly did not envision this. This whole last week as I worked
through this situation I have been churning away inside. After prayerful
consideration and much anguish, I have decided to accept the contract from St. Andrews and wanted to let you know this as
soon as possible. While I have not yet received the actual contract, I have a
copy of the resolution that passed spelling out all of the details of that
contract. I know that the people of St. James were counting on my being with
them this September and for that I feel bad. St. Andrews ha! s some
major issues that they too need to deal with – it will be quite a challenge.
Two things that influenced my decision were the fact that St. Andrews as a congregation is quite similar to
the church I have been serving these last 30 years which will make my
adjustment a little easier. The second item is that this places me closer to
family. My wife’s sister is 20 minutes away and many of our nieces and
nephews are in the Chicago area. My son Michael has in-laws very nearby facilitating
our being able to see him more often.
I have also informed
Pastor Froehlich of this situation and will giving him the names of others
who might be considered as intentional interims.
Pastor Phil Bruening
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