exciting staff news
Dear Family of Faith,
Greetings in Jesus’ Name! As I write this month’s pastoral letter, I am thanking God for your support of the ministry here at Faith. Everything you give in terms of tithes and offerings are gratefully received and carefully invested in God’s Kingdom-building efforts. In other words, because of your generosity, lives are being transformed for Jesus both here and around the world. So, thank you again for your “fellowship in our Faith finances.”
Back in the November ’09 pastoral newsletter, I shared with you about significant changes the Lord was bringing about in terms of our staff here at Faith. Specifically, that Pastor Gary was choosing to leave vocational ministry to pursue his desire to make his living as a real estate investor and to serve in a volunteer role as Faith’s pastor to those in the “second half” of life. Also, I shared with you that Pastor Greg had felt led of God to shift over to Gary’s position as associate/executive pastor. This then opened up a need to discover a new individual to join with us at Faith to be our worship leader and to assume additional ministry responsibilities. At that time, I asked you to pray fervently for God’s direction to the right person.
Praise the Lord, God has answered your prayers! I am super thrilled to share with you that He has directed us to the newest addition to our staff. Ron Larson will be starting on February 22nd as our leader of worship ministries. Ron is already known to many of us through various contacts outside of Faith as well as his performance at our annual MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) fund raising event back in November ’09. At that event I saw our people, of all ages, respond wonderfully to Ron’s testimony of God’s grace, to his exceptional musical abilities, and to his powerful worship leadership. During the process of interviewing Ron, the entire leadership team (deacons & pastoral staff) experienced a growing sense from the Holy Spirit that this brother would be an incredible “match” for our church. As we have been much in prayer and discussion with Ron about the possibility of him coming to Faith, all of us concluded that the Lord was showing us that this is our Lord’s man for this ministry. Leadership is unanimous and wholehearted in our conviction that Ron and his family coming to Faith is genuinely a ” God thing.” We are praising God for His direction!
Ron has had significant years of experience in worship leadership ministries including service in church settings larger than our own. He has been a Christian songwriter/solo musical artist with Glad Productions recording under the Nashville Light Records label. Additionally, Ron has been involved in Christian mental healthcare serving as Director of Marketing and Outreach for the highly respected Minirth-Meier & Byrd clinics. He is a graduate of Moody Bible College in Chicago, Illinois and is solidly in agreement with our doctrinal beliefs and statement.
Accompanying Ron is his wife of 21 years, Lisa, and their two precious children, Gunnar (9) and Hannah (8). They are a beautiful foursome with a great love for the Lord and people. Faith will truly be blessed by God’s addition of the Larson family to our church.
There are a number of qualities that attracted us to Ron. I can share a few here. Our deacons found that his references could not say enough good about the fruit of his worship ministry. He is sensitive to the need to draw a church family together in praise to our Lord and is highly gifted by God in doing so. People of various ages and musical backgrounds find it easy to worship Jesus in response to his leadership. At the same time, Ron keeps the focus upon the Lord and not opinion polls. He is a godly man with a humble spirit, a servant’s heart and the soul of a Christ-like leader. He is adept at recruiting, training and working with volunteers. At the same time he is a man devoted to his family. He loves Jesus’ church. Of particular importance to us is the fact that Ron is capable of simultaneously exercising leadership in other areas of ministry in addition to his primary responsibility of worship. Examples include website management, small groups oversight, men’s ministries leadership and shared preaching assignments. Ron is highly relational. People are easily and quickly drawn to him. He is a unifier and a team player. Again, amongst all of the leadership team, there is unanimity that Ron is God’s man for Faith.
One final story about our call of Ron. Shortly after announcing about our staff changes, I was visited in my office by Larry Samuelson, a dear brother who has been a respected lay leader amongst the seniors at Faith for a long time. Larry shared with me that he knew of a man that he felt would be a great pick for Faith. Larry’s only concern was whether or not we could afford the person he believed was God’s choice. Who was Larry suggesting? The very man, Ron Larson, that we had already contacted. Oh, and happily yes, our current budget does allow us to afford Ron.
As we move forward into 2010, I am greatly encouraged that we can do so with this key position on our team filled by a such a well qualified brother. Please pray for the Larson’s transition from their current ministry (Puyallup Nazarene Church) to Faith. They are leaving many dear friends, close staff relationships and a highly successful ministry to join us here. Eventually they will sell their home and move closer. In it all, let’s love them like crazy!
God bless you for being an essential member of the Faith family. Our Lord is doing so much in our church. He is preparing us to follow His Son Jesus into the most effective ministry we have ever experienced here! I’m glad we are in this exciting adventure together.
I love you …
John K. Nagle
Lead Pastor, Faith
