Deacon Jon Wall spoke Sunday after the announcement of Lisa Vroom’s resignation with these thoughts:

“Gang, ALC is being challenged right now.  We have now had (4) staff members step down in the past 6 or so months if need any proof that we are being tested.  Good news though is that leadership is on this!  Being the “new guy” on the team I can tell you that we have already had (2) meetings related to Lisa’s departure obviously with more to come.  All we can ask now from all of you is to be patient, we are working through things as a leadership group in additional to some next steps that we will be sharing out with everyone in the near future…so stay tuned there.

For anyone who doesn’t know me, I’ve been a part of ALC since about 1990.  I know some of you have been a part of the church for longer than that, but during my time here we have grown and experienced a lot of changes and even challenges over the years.  Pastors coming and going, staff coming and going, heck people from the congregation coming and going.  We also experienced growth in the church to the point where we have had to add on to the church a couple times.  We experienced COVID for crying out loud, much of that without a lead pastor, and to be honest much of the success we had navigating COVID and still holding church during the pandemic was due to Lisa Vroom.  We have an online presence now that we didn’t have before that allowed us to hold worship services during the pandemic, but with those growth opportunities, come challenges.  To make the online cameras work right we needed blinds to darken to the space, in order to see the stage we needed to add lighting to emphasize where the focus truly should be. 

The list of changes and challenges I’m sure is endless, but through all of that, the one constant, that has not changed is Jesus.  I’m going to say that again despite our challenges and changes the one constant and the one who has never changed is Jesus!  Hebrews 13:8 confirms that for us; “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  He has always been here, is here, will remain right here, and if we are honest he is where our focus should be, not on day-to-day changes.     

As I’ve pondered the challenges and changes we’ve encountered, especially lately, a verse Pastor Tom often mentioned popped in my head from Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Take a minute and think about how you personally can get plugged in here at ALC.  If you were involved more in the past but have taken a step back, consider this your invitation to step back into it.  If you don’t know what you can do, ask any one of us on leadership (we are here to help).  If we can’t find something right off, heck we’ll make something up.  The point is that this is a perfect opportunity to be a part of the Kingdom of God, and I can’t think of a better community do it with.

If you haven’t yet, take a minute to thank Lisa for everything she has done to be the servant leader that she is and for giving so much of herself to the Worship Ministry here at ALC, she has been ALL IN everyday she's been here and deserves nothing but our love and gratitude right now.”

Peace,

Jon Wall