For those who may not have heard or read yet, I will be retiring from People’s Church in June, 2027. In some way or another, I have been officially hanging around or working at People’s
Church since 2006. In fact, while cleaning at home, I came across some old Medieval History notes that I used to teach Adult Education classes with from an earlier time. I remember in other
periods I simply transferred my history and philosophy lectures through a computer and projector to screens set-up in the Sanctuary or (much smaller) Social Hall. My church office still
contains the books of religious stories and myths I would use to teach Children’s Religious Education on Sunday mornings. Not to mention the stacks of various translations of the Bible on
my shelves to use for the Bible classes I taught, which were very different from the usual type of Bible Study found in other churches. In 2013 I became Pastor Bud Murphy’s Associate Minister,
and then became the Senior Minister in 2016, from which I will now retire next year.

From my point of view, it was a very fortunate series of events and a coincidences of time and place that led me to People’s Church. As the search committee officially starts to form at the
Annual Meeting in June, and then begins to decide who or what comes next, and how, I want to thank you for all that you have meant to me and all you have been to me—my friends, my
inspirations, my employers. Through Coming of Age ceremonies and Memorial Services, and people coming and going, to physical changes to the building, and even a pandemic that reset
the way we do things, there have been a lot of changes. But as we recently celebrated, the process has always been a co-creation, by design and purpose.

There is still a lot of time between now and June a year from now. The committee structure, which was always very important to me as the minister will probably be getting even stronger, at
least for the short term. I will be available for whatever is needed in this year of transition, but at the same time I will be fading to some degree as the structures that have accomplished so
much will continue to develop, grow, or whither, as needed or desired. As I have often repeated, I strongly believe in the committee structure that has always been a part of our church, part of
the co-creating. No one of us is as good at solving a problem than a half-dozen of us. So, with the search committee, given their time and space, and the input and cooperation of People
Church’s friends and members, I’m confident that the best decisions will be determined for the church’s future.