Emmanuel Lutheran Church

November, 2021

By now you have heard that we hired a Director of Faith Formation, Janie Crowl. We are excited to have her as a part of Emmanuel’s staff. She brings great enthusiasm and passion for faith development in all age groups. She has many ideas for ministries and faith formative tools to share. Her office hours will vary from week to week but you can always email her (address in this Spotlight) or call the church office and leave her a message.

Janie’s arrival to Emmanuel is truly the work of the Holy Spirit. I shared the following testimony with those who were in worship the last weekend in September, but everyone deserves to know just how the Spirit moved to bring her here.

In early 2019 we said good-bye to Angela and her family as they moved away. At that time, I suggested to Management that we should not start a search for a replacement right away. This would be a good time to re-evaluate the current needs of Emmanuel. Management agreed and we began to discuss different ideas but nothing really “stuck.” In 2020 a little thing called Covid hit and put a stop to any idea of hiring during a pandemic. Now here is the first action of the Spirit in this process - God’s timing is not our timing. God is timeless. So, what seems delayed to us, is not to God and God knew what timing was necessary to bring us to the right job choice and fill it with the right person.

At this year’s congregational meeting, Management recommended that we hire an Early Childhood Development Coordinator to focus on our young children’s faith education and the needs of their parents. At that meeting, a comment was made that we need to focus on the adults as well, and shouldn’t lose sight of that. Here is another action of the Spirit, correcting course for us when we began looking in a different direction than what God had planned.

The following time line is very important to understand the Spirit’s continued direction in this process: In May, I was looking at a church’s website and they had a position titled “Director of Faith Formation.” That title struck me, so I wrote it down and thought I’d sit on that for a while and see if the Spirit might want us to move in that direction.

In June, I attended the Synod Assembly and at the assembly, Bishop Barbins introduced us to “The Dandelion Project” and extended an invitation for churches to apply for this two-year commitment. The Dandelion Project has a lot to do with faith formation among individuals and the church itself. Connecting the dots (Faith Formation – Dandelion Project – Children’s Faith Education – Adult fellowship needs), at July 13’s Management Meeting, I asked Management to consider a position titled Director of Faith Formation. They agreed and would make recommendation to Council.

At the July 14 Council meeting it was approved that Management should work up a job description for a Director of Faith Formation. At this same meeting, Council unanimously approved applying for our participation in the Dandelion Project.
The very next morning, On July 15, Mary handed me a resume that had come in the morning’s mail. She said it was probably from someone who had to send them out as a requirement of unemployment. It was. The resume was from Janie Crowl. Her experience included working nine years at East Fairfield United Methodist Church as Youth Director, with a great deal of experience organizing youth events and even working with students at Crestview High School. She had Youth Ministry Training at Methodist Theological College; Leadership Training with Teen Mania Ministries; Stephen Ministry Leadership and Certification with C.S. Lewis Institute.

I sat the resume down on my desk and literally looked up in awe and amazement at what God was at work doing. All of this was not our doing. One would have to be in awe of the Spirit’s work to realize that the resume was postmarked July 12, the day before Management met. That means the Spirit moved Janie to send her resume to us before we even discussed a Director of Faith Formation position! Oh, and don’t forget the synod’s Dandelion Project, the timing of which coincides perfectly with the hiring of a Director of Faith Formation. Coincidence? Not a chance!

May my testimony give you reason to give thanks and praise to God, who is indeed active in our lives and in the church, moving and shifting and even interrupting our plans and desires to accomplish what we can’t even yet imagine!

Blessings,
Pastor Alan