A Good Time Can Be Had By All

A Message from Rev. Dr. Larry Hayward
August 2017

This Fall we will experience the “coming together” of several significant changes on which our church has been focused the past two years, as well as more unexpected changes.

Our new Associate Pastor for Youth Ministries, Whitney Fauntleroy, will have her first school year leading our youth ministry. This can be a time of renewed commitment and involvement for youth and their families in the life of the church, which can be such an important part of the “race” to adulthood which occurs in our culture between sixth grade and graduation from high school. I hope if you are a youth, a friend of a youth, a parent, a potential sponsor or teacher, or a member of the congregation, you will both seek to get to know Whitney and see how you can be involved and supportive.

Patrick Hunnicutt moves fully into his new position as Associate Pastor for Pastoral Care and Mission. As he becomes fully engaged in leading our “triple-header” mission program of local mission, national mission, and international mission, this would be a good time for you to volunteer your time or leadership to one of more than a dozen opportunities for hands on service within our local community of Alexandria/Arlington, the significant outreach we have nationally at the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation in North Dakota and through the Appalachian Service Project, or internationally through the United Orphanage and Academy in Moi’s Bridge, Kenya. Even just meeting with and getting to know Patrick in this new role may open your eyes to ways you might serve people in this congregation (pastoral care) and beyond this congregation (mission).

By the time you are reading this, you will likely at least have seen – and heard early fruits of the ministry of – Ben Hutchens as our new Interim Director of Music Ministries. Westminster has had a terrific history of long serving Directors of Music (Dana Brown, David Erwin, and Paul Stetsenko). As we search nationally for our next Director, it is a good time for anyone who has been “sitting and listening” to our choir or bells to pick up your voice or your bells and join in the music program. We are also seeking to expand our growing children’s music this year by adding a youth component – all under Molly Roden’s capable hands.

I also want to take this time to thank the work of Casey FitzGerald as she has led much of the nuts and bolts of this transition in children’s, youth, and adult ministry while moving into the role of Associate Pastor for Christian Formation. While she will take a much deserved sabbatical from the end of October through the end of January, the fruits of that ministries for children, youth, and adults in helping form our faith will continue through Amey Upton, Patty Chamberlain, and Molly Roden. All the while we have terrific groups and events formed in Congregational Life (under Nancy Hall Berens) and continued care through Eileen Jinks.

It can be a great fall….a good time can be had by all….join in and it will!

Larry