Greetings on this beautiful May morning!

Dear Congregation,

Greetings on this beautiful May morning! I pray all is well with you.

I hope you all noticed the invitation to our Installation and Celebration Worship Service followed by a catered brunch on Sunday, May 21. In this service I will be installed as your Pastor and Teacher. Florida Conference Minister, The Rev. John Vertigan, will be with us and will preach.

You may RSVP by emailing the church office at office@christcongregational church. org, calling CCC at 305-235-9381, or by adding your name and number attending on the sign-up sheet on the table at the back of the Sanctuary. May 12th is the deadline. It promises to be a very special day and I really hope all CCC’s members and friends will be present to share the joy! Along with the Installation, we’ll be celebrating the completion of the sale of church property and our new future of ministering in Christ’s name in our community and the world.

Even though I have been your pastor for almost five years as of July 1st, our relationship has been a temporary one. I was first called to be CCC’s Interim Pastor, and I can still remember being in the Security Clearance Line at the Miami International Airport, headed for an Ohio visit, when Graham called to tell me that I had the job. That made me very happy!

We did the Interim work together over time with the Interim Team producing a report that was and continues to be a very accurate assessment of what the church can do to continue and to grow in faithfulness. Now we have the funds to implement those wise recommendations!

I was next named your Designated Term Pastor, and that has been our relationship for about the last three years, again a temporary relationship. During this time the church has survived through the many challenges of the Covid pandemic, and we rejoice in that. We continue to feel the effects, as do most churches.

And now, by your Congregational Vote to call me, we are entering into a new relationship. I will be transferring my membership to CCC, and so will be a fellow member. I will be considered your Settled Pastor. I will be making promises at the Installation, and so will you, affirming our covenantal relationship. Even though I will have a Call Agreement (which is like an employment contract), that document is based on the concept of Covenant, initiated by God with the Israelites. It clarifies our relationship—I will be this for you and you agree to be that for me. We are in a relationship. I see it as a love relationship. That’s what makes ministry more than a job!

I look forward to working with you into the future, excited to see what God will call us to do together. Thank you for calling me. Please know that I will do my best to be faithful to Jesus Christ and to you, as we share in the joys and sorrows that make up life, doing our best to love and serve.

In Christ’s love.

Pastor Candy

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