Read the update from the Associate Pastor Call Committee that was sent out to the Mount Olivet community this week!

Dear Mount Olivet Community,

The call process for Mount Olivet’s next associate pastor is underway. Bishop Ann Svennungsen came to Mount Olivet for a special meeting in July to get to know our community and hear more about the leader we seek. Based on this conversation, the synod has started identifying qualified candidates for us.

During this meeting, Bishop Svennungsen invited Mount Olivet to be open to all candidates regardless of gender, age, disability, marital status, race or sexual identity. The call committee and church council discerned this invitation and wholeheartedly agree that we should be open to all qualified candidates. We are focused on the ability of the candidates to fulfill the needs of our church, and thus we have no restrictions, or preferences, other than finding the best fit for Mount Olivet.

Mount Olivet is looking for a pastor who is called to our community, gifted in preaching, worship leading, teaching, and relationship building both within Mount Olivet and our broader community. We seek a leader with a heart for justice and advocacy to engage with new mission opportunities, and lead our existing relationships with PRISM, HomeFree, Northport Elementary, etc.

This discernment and process flows from our identity:

a community who believes in the life-giving God, revealed through Jesus, who shows up in daily life - engaging us in God’s work in the world.
a community who experiences a faith journey together, with openness and compassion, trusting in the promises of Christ.
a community who practices being church in the world - listening to God and neighbor, pointing to God's active presence, and doing what God calls us to do.

Guided by our identity and the Holy Spirit, the call committee, with Pastor Beth, will recommend a final candidate to the church council. The church council must approve the recommendation before proceeding to a congregational vote. That means all Mount Olivet members are part of this call process.

Your feedback is important to us, and we’ll be hosting conversations each month to check in with the community on the call process. The next session will be held on Sunday, September 25th from 10:00-10:45am and on Wednesday, September 28th from 7:00-8:00pm. We trust the Holy Spirit guiding us as we take each step in the process, and we are hopeful in what is ahead for Mount Olivet as our new pastor is called.

Please contact Pastor Beth and Mark Schmidt with thoughts or questions on the call process.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

God’s peace,

Pastor Beth Horsch
Mark Schmidt, Call Committee Lead
Michele Pletcher, Church Council President