Grace and peace to you!
I am so grateful to have been your pastor these 19 months. Thank you for trusting me with your hearts and your lives, even when Covid made it difficult for us to know each other as well as we would have liked. Dave Smazik left exactly two years ago, and so much has happened in these two years! You were able to enjoy having Bridge Pastor Ed Halldorson, who is such a calm and steady presence. I began here at PCM in Jan 2021. We returned to in person worship that Mother’s Day, we reentered the sanctuary in June, and we got live streaming up and running in July. We were able to complete the presbytery’s required Discernment Process in 5 months. We brought on board Paul Koski, Kay Smith, and now Amanda Tufts. We elected a PNC in Nov 2021, and you called Pastor Daniel in June of this year. Concurrently we had the unexpected opportunity to hire Covenant Supply Associate Pastor Audrey Webber AND ordain her in July.
The session has been steadfast throughout this pandemic, making measured decisions to preserve the health of the body of Christ. The children’s and youth programs have continued, the Outreach Committee has never stopped serving the community, the PCNS has continued to be a lifeline for families.
You did all that and more within 2 years, during a pandemic, which is remarkable. You are unstoppable! I will miss you all. I will miss your profound engagement with preaching, your service to your community, and learning important life skills like Mah Jongg. It has been an honor to serve with this supremely talented church staff. I will keep an eye on you from afar, and I look forward to seeing what unfolds here at PCM as your new pastors settle into their calls. As Julian of Norwich wrote a long time ago: “…all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
Thank you for your kind gifts and your good wishes. Keep me in your prayers as I seek the next opportunity to serve. You will always be in mine.
Blessings,
Leslie Dobbs-Allsopp
