You may have noticed that Jon has been preaching more over the last year or so. There are two main reasons for that.
First, Les Chapman, Senior Minister, has always welcomed and encouraged other ministers on our staff to preach occasionally. We have been blessed by Stan, Tony, William, Brian Sheppard, and, of course, Jon. We appreciate Les’ goal of hearing different voices share God’s word.
Second, Les informed the eldership a few years ago of his plan to step aside from his full-time preaching role in January 2027. We won’t call this “retirement” because he and the elders desire for him to move into a part-time ministry role here. Since receiving that timeline, we have been working toward what that transition would look like and how we would most effectively accomplish moving to the next person for the preaching role.
In the fall of 2023, the elders discussed the future and concluded that we have a person currently on staff who has the talent, ability, and passion to fill that role and, just as importantly, could continue moving this church toward its mission. That person was Jon Micah Richardson, Family Discipleship Minister. Of course, we had to ask Les and Jon about that possibility and how that would fit into their vision of the future.
After many discussions with Jon and Les, it was agreed this was a good possibility. So, a plan was put in place to have Jon preach more in 2024 to gain experience, get a feel for what frequent preaching would be like, and evaluate and prayerfully consider moving into this role full-time as a calling.
Les, Jon, and the eldership agreed to explore the plan. At the end of 2024, the eldership evaluated with Jon how it went and whether or not to move to the next stage toward that goal. After much prayer and discussion, Jon agreed to move forward with the transition plan, and the elders enthusiastically agreed to do the same.
So, what does this all mean, and what will it look like?
This means that the eldership’s goal and our trajectory right now are to transition over the next two years to Jon becoming the full-time preaching minister when Les steps into a part-time ministry role. Two years allows Jon to grow into the role and smoothly transition. Again, this is our goal, and we are working intentionally toward it.
Les and Jon will split the preaching duties 50/50 in 2025. In 2026, Jon will increase preaching to more than 50% as Les ramps down, creating a smooth transition to our goal of an official move in January 2027.
The elders realize, and hope you do as well, the blessing of having this opportunity. We are blessed that Les and Jon have known each other for a long time and work well together. We are blessed that Les not only supports this transition but desires it. And we are blessed to have someone on our staff in Jon to make this possible.
We ask that you join us in praying for our church as we continue on this trajectory toward an important transition. Also, pray for Jon, Jennifer, Les, and June as they work toward this future life change.
