| Pastor Jay D. Schmidt |
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As I write this last column there are some very mixed emotions within me. I am deciding
to leave this pastorate to which I have been committed for more than nine years. My
reason for leaving is not to go to a different church, not even to move to Boston. My reason for
leaving is because it is time for me to retire, and the time was not set by anyone but me. That
could create the impression that something isn’t quite right. However, that conclusion would not be
accurate. Most certainly, I’m not retiring because of lack of care about Emmanuel Church.
When I was a youth pastor in the Boston area, I remember attending a conference. In the lunch
line I was chatting with a pastor looking forward to retirement. He said he no longer prepared any
new sermons, just pulled out old ones from the file. He was just hanging on till the day he could
quit. I immediately prayed silently, saying “God, don’t ever let that be me.” God has been very
good and I have never lacked passion for this calling. In the last few months I noticed that my
passion isn’t at the level where it has always been and I don’t ever want to be guilty of “hanging
on”. As a result I began asking God to help me understand what I was experiencing. Either there
would be a new source or it would be time to end this pastorate. I believe God is telling me to
let go because someone else is to take this place.
I am grateful that I was privileged to be your pastor and my passion for serving Christ
has not diminished. I look forward to social opportunities to visit with you and I will pray for you
to experience the new thing God wants to do among you. You have a new preschool coming this
fall. The Consistory will be working with a specialist in church revitalization also beginning this fall.
It is indeed a new beginning for you as well as for me. May God continue to use you to be a
blessing to the Goodyear Heights and Middlebury neighborhoods.
to leave this pastorate to which I have been committed for more than nine years. My
reason for leaving is not to go to a different church, not even to move to Boston. My reason for
leaving is because it is time for me to retire, and the time was not set by anyone but me. That
could create the impression that something isn’t quite right. However, that conclusion would not be
accurate. Most certainly, I’m not retiring because of lack of care about Emmanuel Church.
When I was a youth pastor in the Boston area, I remember attending a conference. In the lunch
line I was chatting with a pastor looking forward to retirement. He said he no longer prepared any
new sermons, just pulled out old ones from the file. He was just hanging on till the day he could
quit. I immediately prayed silently, saying “God, don’t ever let that be me.” God has been very
good and I have never lacked passion for this calling. In the last few months I noticed that my
passion isn’t at the level where it has always been and I don’t ever want to be guilty of “hanging
on”. As a result I began asking God to help me understand what I was experiencing. Either there
would be a new source or it would be time to end this pastorate. I believe God is telling me to
let go because someone else is to take this place.
I am grateful that I was privileged to be your pastor and my passion for serving Christ
has not diminished. I look forward to social opportunities to visit with you and I will pray for you
to experience the new thing God wants to do among you. You have a new preschool coming this
fall. The Consistory will be working with a specialist in church revitalization also beginning this fall.
It is indeed a new beginning for you as well as for me. May God continue to use you to be a
blessing to the Goodyear Heights and Middlebury neighborhoods.