new staff

We are preparing for annual conference. We anticipate some changes in our pastoral staff at this conference. First we anticipate Pastor Megan to be appointed the lead pastor of St. Peter UMC in Blue Springs. These transitions are always difficult but Megan is being given a tremendous opportunity and I pray God's richest blessings on her and her new congregation.

We will be receiving some new people to serve Platte Woods UMC. We anticipate Ginger Pudenz being appointed here as a "Part Time Local Pastor." This means Ginger will be assigned here with the expectation that she not spend all her time with the church. If we were looking to figure things on an hourly basis and full time equaled 40 hours we would anticipate Ginger working 20 hours. In addition to her work with us Ginger will be taking required classes for a person who is classified as a "local pastor." This Course of Study will lead to her credentials in the church.
Ginger will be appointed as our pastor of Prayer and Congregational Care. This means she will be leading our prayer ministry. Many of you realize this is what Ginger did for us before she took her own church three years ago. I am excited about seeing our prayer ministry develop and produce great blessings among us.

Ginger will also have the responsibility for Congregational Care. This means she will be doing the majority of our pastoral visitation. She will visit our shut-ins and those in nursing homes, and be the primary person for hospital visits. (The rest of us will certainly be taking a turn but Ginger gets to be in charge of this essential area of ministry).

A second part-time person we anticipate being appointed here is Angela (Angie) Olsen. She is married to Curtis. We will be blessed with a clergy couple. Angie is taking the appointment as part time for family reasons. Drew will soon be joined in their home by a new baby!

Angie will be assigned the responsibilities for "community outreach." She will be continuing to organize and give pastoral leadership to our mission outreaches (Saturdays 2 Serve, 1 Working Wednesday, etc.). She will also be bringing some special expertise to community building and helping move our church more into our community.

Angie is a "Probationary Elder" in the United Methodist Church. She will continue in the process toward full ordination.

Another person who will be coming to our staff is Dr. Reuben Wilbur. Reuben has been the treasurer (and charged with office administration) of our annual conference for the past 19 years. Reuben is choosing to take the retired relationship this year so he may come to work with us. We will call Reuben the "executive pastor." His responsibilities will include supervising the staff, working with SPRC on all our staff issues and giving hands-on attention to day-to-day operations. He will also relate to the trustees regarding all those many issues that deal with facilities and other trustee issues.

It looks to me like we are continuing to see a great staff become even greater. I encourage everyone to get well acquainted with our newest members of the staff. They will all be on board in July.