We are this morning officially announcing the resignation of Sarah Smith who has served in ministering to our Teen girls over the past nine years.  Her resignation is effective the earlier of next May 1 or until her replacement is found.  With Ethan and Wyatt getting bigger and Ethan nearing kindergarten, her desire is to be at home with her boys ... and we appreciate the struggle she has gone through in making this break with a ministry in which she has been most effective and which has been a part of her life for so long.

To give you a bit of history, in September of 2000, we were interviewing for a youth minister and this young husband and wife approached us with the concept of more effectively ministering to both boys and girls by having a husband-and-wife team.  Only Ryan was officially on the payroll at first but it soon became apparent from their success that Sarah was devoting all her energies to the effort and should receive some degree of compensation.  Sarah has brought excellence to every area of her work, whether that meant being friend, mentor, teacher, or encourager to teens; being a vital, contributing member of our staff; working in women’s ministry, worship ministry, audio visual presentations for various groups, or, as she is currently doing, spending countless hours arranging and editing the Wednesday night children’s material for small groups.  At the moment we can only say “thank you” for a job done well; but we hope to provide a time for more appropriate appreciation and recognition as the time for her official departure arrives. 

A group composed of elders, deacons, staff, and parents has been formed to begin a search for Sarah’s replacement immediately and we will inform you of their progress as those developments occur.  We ask for your prayers in that search.

~ From the Elders
Read to the congregation by Jerry Burchfield and Ken Roberts,
Sunday morning, October 4, 2009