As summer begins, we talked with Pastor Luke Uran about the new sermon series, staff vacancies and more.
What was your prayer and thought process in choosing Mark’s gospel for this new sermon series?
One of the primary drivers as I was praying about this was the fact that Mark is a gospel of action. Part of why I believe the Spirit led us to this at this time is because as a church family, that’s what we want to be. We want to be people who don’t just have all this head knowledge, but are actually led to action. Whether it’s through local organizations, local opportunities, our Big Day of Serving, our Habitat for Humanity crew or anything and everything in between … we see that Jesus is leading his followers to action. And so as I was praying, I thought this is a great opportunity for us this summer and early fall to look at the way Jesus not only taught truth about the kingdom of God, but how he also revealed those things in his actions. In our world today, what better opportunity do we have to be the church than to be people who are practicing what we preach?
In summer, people tend to be at church some Sundays and gone others. Can you give some assurance that even if we miss a week or two, we’re not going to lose track of the series?
I can’t take credit for the reading plan. Sophia Vale (communications director) is the one who put that together. But one of the purposes is for people to stay connected. If you’re gone for vacation over the course of a weekend, stay up to date with us through the reading plan. And you can always go back and watch the sermons through the app or the website.
The other thing I try to do every week is fill in the context. For example, the first week we talked about Jesus’s baptism and Jesus being led by the Spirit out into the wilderness. This past Sunday we talked about Jesus and his healing but also the fact that he came to preach the good news of the kingdom. So I do try to fill in those blanks for people each week. And even for those who were here, it’s a good refresher to say, “This is where we left off.”
What does your summer look like?
Last summer was very exciting with the sabbatical. This summer is going to be exciting in a different way. We’re going to stay pretty close to home for the most part. Maybe a few getaways here and there. And will continue on those staff searches.
Any updates there?
Yes. Andrew Sweitzer joins us as technical director at the end of June. We’re continuing in the search process for a director of contemporary worship. We’re having good conversations about the associate pastor role. And there’s nothing new yet on the middle school position.
Let me ask about those staff searches in a different way. Are you feeling pressured?
The pressure that I’m sensing is not necessarily from the congregation at all. The congregation, I know, wants great people, God’s people, to fill these roles. The pressure I’m feeling is more making sure that in desperation, the wrong decision is not being made. Because to be honest, there certainly have been days or weeks when it’s been like, Lord, just drop the right person here on our front step. And let it be someone who stays until they retire. But that’s not always how it works. I’m grateful that I don’t have to make those decisions by myself.
How can we as a congregation pray for you?
Pray for the entire team. Especially for the departments that need positions filled. Because extra responsibilities have been put on people’s shoulders during this interim time. I’ve talked with several different pastor friends and all have said it’s a strange world out there right now when it comes to hiring in ministry. A lot of that was caused by pandemic stuff and pastors leaving ministry altogether. That’s part of it. But then also, there aren’t as many people looking to go into vocational ministry. Which is not necessarily a bad thing or a good thing. It’s just where we’re at. It doesn’t mean people aren’t doing ministry. It’s just that they’re doing ministry in a different vocation.
So be praying for us to rely on the Lord’s strength. Because I know in those moments I try to take a lot onto myself. Be praying for wisdom and discernment in the searches. Again, we don’t want to rush anything. We want the right people at the right time. But it doesn’t make it any easier in the meantime, in the waiting.
You have a few guest speakers scheduled this summer, right?
Typically for me I have found a healthy rhythm of preaching anywhere from four to six weeks and then having a Sunday off and being able to focus on some other things organizationally rather than sermon preparation. So we do have some guest speakers this summer who are going to be able to help take some of that load off. And it’s always good to hear from other voices, different perspectives.
We’re doing a separate article soon with memories of Pastor John Crocker. But it’s interesting that you started the Mark series the same week that John passed. He once spent about two years on the gospel of Mark. It became kind of funny near the end as he was acknowledging it’s the shortest gospel and he had spent so many weeks preaching it.
That’s completely unintentional, but I don’t believe it’s accidental. No, we won’t be spending two years in Mark (laughs). Fourteen weeks is a long series for me. But it is kind of neat, full circle, to be able to do that.
For you or any pastor who comes into an older church, you’ve got to think about legacy sometimes, with the number of people who have occupied that office. Does that ever intimidate you?
Yeah. Every Sunday. Between the number of retired pastors here, plus retired and still-full-time missionaries and people who have left some very large shoes to fill, every Sunday it’s something that comes into my mind. But I think that is one of the ways that the Lord keeps me humble. He continues to remind me that I don’t have all the answers, which is OK because he does.
I think all of those people would have told you they felt exactly the same way.
Yeah. It’s a true blessing to be among that group at this church.
One last thing. Can you talk a little about why our church isn’t using Summerwood this year?
First, one prayer request for one of our team members is that Dave Bodrie (facilities engineer) is recovering from shoulder surgery. It takes a huge amount of work to prepare Summerwood — all of the tech equipment comes out every fall and all of the speakers and instruments need to be brought back out in the spring. It all needs to be tested and make sure it’s all working. And so in the midst of both Dave’s shoulder surgery as well as not having a tech director, we made the decision for this summer to stay inside. We did a combined service for Mother’s Day and now Father’s Day. So we’ll use opportunities like that to get together like we would have out there.
“And let it be someone who stays until they retire.” Honestly, when I read that, I had to laugh.