INTRODUCING OUR INTERIM PASTOR…
The Church Council is happy to announce that Rev. Jeffrey P. Kistler of New Tripoli has been selected to serve as Interim Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church. Recommended by Bishop Samuel Zeiser, then interviewed and approved by Council, Pastor Kistler will serve 3/4 –time (approximately 4.5 days or 35 hours per week) for an initial contract from August 30, 2010 to August 31, 2011 (with the possibility of an extension to a second year).
As stated in the contract, besides preaching and leading worship (Word and Sacrament), providing pastoral care to the Congregation and pastoral leadership for the meetings and programs of the Congregation, Pastor Jeff will work with the Church Council on the following interim tasks…
· Seek to re-establish a relationship of trust between the Pastor and Congregation;
· Engage the Congregation in a valuing process to name and celebrate what is positive about the church… What do members value? What is pleasing to God?
· Address conflict within the Congregation, bringing issues before God and one another with the goal of understanding, confession, forgiveness and healing;
· Help Zion Lutheran Church to discern God’s vision for its future and to set commensurate goals;
· Through the above steps, to help Zion prepare for the leadership of the next Pastor called by the Congregation.
Serving in the capacity of Interim, Pastor Kistler is not available to be considered for a Call as Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church.
“Pastor Jeff” was born and raised on the family farm between New Tripoli and Schnecksville. He graduated from Northwestern Lehigh High School and from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. After seminary training at Union Theological Seminary, New York, he was ordained by the Blue Mountain Association of Penn Northeast Conference (United Church of Christ) in 1971. He has served thirty-two years as a pastor, including congregations in: Sipesville (Somerset), Pennsylvania; Havre de Grace, Maryland; Lynnville/New Tripoli: St. Peter’s Union Church (as shared ELCA/UCC ministry); and most recently twelve years in Andreas: Ben Salem United Church of Christ.
Pastor Jeff and his wife, Barbara, just celebrated forty-one years of marriage. “Dr. Kistler” is a Professor of Mathematics at Lehigh Carbon Community College. They have two sons, both married, Michael in Boston and Matthew in Kenya, East Africa, and two grandchildren.