Dear Grace Family,
As I mentioned yesterday in worship, thank you so much for your prayers over the past few months related to our staff search process. God provided us with strong, gifted candidates and a tremendous team of congregational stakeholders to take part in our in-depth interviews and conversations.
After much prayer, reflection, and input from a broad cross-section of congregants, I am thrilled to announce that we have hired the dynamic duo of Nelson & Nicole Hall. Nelson will be coming on staff as our Assistant Pastor of Youth and Young Adults and Nicole will be our new Ministry Administrator & Communications Coordinator. Many of you may remember Nelson & Nicole serving as pastoral interns last summer, and we are excited to be able to work with both of them long term.
Nelson and Nicole are Seattle natives and have already demonstrated a chemistry and philosophy of ministry fit with our leadership and congregation during their internships last summer. As we continue to live into a time of significant transition for our church, it is critical to bring people onto the team that we know will be able to culturally and theologically serve faithfully and effectively. It is our belief that Nelson and Nicole will be able to thrive in our congregation.
With regards to discipleship and pastoral care of youth and young adults, Nelson is uniquely suited to enter into this role at this stage of our church's life. In addition to having strong teaching gifts, Nelson has a pastor’s heart and is highly relational as well as profoundly humble and approachable. Coming out of COVID, our young people are reeling, and now is a critical time for us to be able to more effectively minister to them and build new relational tethers. Nelson’s strengths will be a key to this position for our teenagers who are growing up in bewildering times.
To reiterate what I said yesterday, the addition of this position to our staff is a forward-looking, growth-oriented hire. It is a step of faith for us to create space in our congregation and in our budget, but we believe it is one that we need to take. Like many of you, I long for Grace to be a place where young people can thrive and grow in their relationship with the Lord and others. I am asking you to get behind Nelson and his ministry, pray for the youth in our church to flourish, and also to generously support the work of our church through your regular financial giving.
As for Nicole, I believe she will be a tremendous blessing to the smooth and effective ministry of our church. She has done a remarkable job in her tenure in the Student Life Department of Covenant Seminary and comes with glowing recommendations. She will be able to take much of the administrative pressure from the rest of the staff and be a profound gift to you, the congregation, as we seek to work together for the spread of the Lord’s kingdom.
Finally, Nelson & Nicole will be moving back to Seattle in December, as Nicole is finishing up her last in-person semester of classes in her master's program at Covenant Seminary. Nicole will start working remotely in August. Nelson will be doing some limited remote work in the fall and will begin the bulk of his work in December.
So, thank you for praying. The Lord has been very good to us!
Warmly in Christ,
John