October 24, 2007

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  Philippians 1:3-6

Dear Park Church Family,

What joy there has been in our partnership in the gospel these past nine plus years!  God has done great things in, through and among us.  It is with intense sadness, then, that I bring you news of my decision to accept a call to ministry in a new place.

This past Sunday, the congregation of Langhorne Presbyterian Church in lower Bucks County north of Philadelphia voted to call me as their next pastor/head of staff, and last night our Session voted, at my request, to add to the agenda of our previously called congregational meeting of Sunday, November 11, 2007, immediately following the 10:55 worship service, a recommendation to the Presbytery of Beaver-Butler and its Committee on Ministry that my pastoral relationship with Park Presbyterian Church be dissolved as of January 28, 2008.  I will continue to fill the pulpit through Sunday, January 6, using accrued vacation time during the period of transition to Langhorne.  

The decision to accept the new call has been one of the most difficult decisions Becky and I have had to make in our thirty years of marriage.  It means leaving a place and a people we have grown to love.  It means saying goodbye to friends who have enriched our lives and the lives of our children deeply.  It means ending a partnership in ministry that has yielded a rich harvest in a hundred different ways. 

For us the next ten weeks will be full of both laughter and tears as we recall wonderful times together and prepare to say farewell.  We look forward to sharing personally with as many of you as possible and will seek to do so. 

In the meantime, I echo the words of the Apostle Paul as he wrote to his beloved friends in Philippi:  I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Yours in Christ,

Bill

Click here for Q & A: Bill Answers Some Questions

Click here for Q & A:  Other Transition Issues