Hello First Presbyterian Church,

My Reverend Reflection for this month is less reflection and more reminder, or announcement. You may consider this, then, my Reverend Reminder for the month of April. 

The first reminder is a reminder only because I announced it already this past Sunday. For many of you, though, this may be the first time you are hearing the good news that we have hired Connor Young to serve as a Pastoral Resident at First Presbyterian Church for the remainder of 2022! Connor is well known to many in the congregation. He is a graduate of JBU and even worked in the Admissions Office for a couple years before heading north to attend seminary at Calvin Seminary. Throughout his seminary education we have been supporting and praying for Connor, and now, with just one semester remaining in his MDiv program, he and his wife, Jordan, have returned to Northwest Arkansas. 

We are excited to welcome them back to our church and I hope you will provide them with a warm welcome, maybe even a warm cup of coffee (after all, who likes cold coffee?) If you are wondering how to reach Connor, he is now all set up with an official church email address and ready to provide answers to your most challenging pastoral or theological questions. You can reach him at connor@fpcsiloam.com. Or, if you want to put a name with a face, you can read Connor’s bio on our website.

During his pastoral residency, Connor will be pursuing ordination in the EPC and assisting with a number of pastoral responsibilities like preaching, teaching, visitation, etc. There are also a number of projects at the church that require work on the front end to get up and running that Connor will facilitate. I am excited for you to get to know him. He is a good fit for who we are and for helping us get to where we have said we want to go. 

Connor will be working part-time and his residency has been made possible through a generous gift we received at the end of 2019 that the Session designated for internships at First Presbyterian Church. I am grateful that God has provided in advance what was necessary to bring Connor on to join our work in expanding his kingdom in Northwest Arkansas. Please welcome Connor and Jordan (back) to First Presbyterian Church!

The second reminder for this Reverend Reminder is that the Session’s minutes are public information. You can read our minutes anytime you want. They are especially helpful if you are struggling with insomnia! I know that it is easy to feel like Session operates in secret, but the Elders want you to know that our minutes are available for you to read should you ever find yourself curious about our discussions or decisions. In order to receive a copy of our minutes please feel free to reach out to Jennifer Heathcote at info@fpcsiloam.com. 

Should you prefer human interaction, though, I want you to know that you can also engage me or any of the other Elders in conversation about the discussions or decisions at Session. The names of the Elders currently serving on Session, along with the committees where they serve, are listed on the “Leadership” tab on our website. We would be happy to chat with you! Or, if you prefer, James Cooke has offered to just read our minutes aloud to you. It would be his pleasure. 

Well, those are my Reverend Reminders for April. In May, it’s back to reflections. Until then, the peace of Christ be with you!