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March 28, 2008 Dear Fellow Presbyters, Glacier Presbytery will be going through some exciting (and dare I say, exhilarating) changes this year. The changes have already begun with the election of our new Stated Clerk and our new Treasurer at the February Presbytery meeting at Sunrise Church in Great Falls. It gives me great pleasure to officially announce the election of two servants of our church who will be known to many of you already. Gayle Collins has been elected Stated Clerk of our presbytery for a term of three years. Gayle is a member of the Kalispell congregation and has served us in the past in a number of positions. Most recently she was Council Moderator for several years. Charlie Coutts is also well known to most of us, though you might best know him as Zoë’s husband. Charlie is currently a member of the Cut Bank congregation, though he and Zoë are transitioning to the Polson area for retirement. Charlie brings with him a familiarity of the Presbytery along with many years of accounting expertise from his own business endeavors. Attached to this letter are more complete biographies of Charlie and Gayle which were prepared by the Nominating Committee. This letter announcing Gayle’s and Charlie’s beginnings would not be complete without a final word of appreciation for the one whom they are succeeding, Don Patterson. Don has been faithfully executing the office of Stated Clerk of our presbytery for nearly twenty years. His tenure as our treasurer has been a bit shorter, but not by much. We need to offer Don a resounding word of thanks for all his tireless efforts for us over the years, the many miles driven and flown, the hours spent in meetings, the tireless work in recording meetings and other necessary bits of recordkeeping. Our gratitude would not be complete without also saying thanks to his untiring, but quiet, co-worker, Mary Patterson. Mary has also been a steady fixture at our Presbytery meetings, taking notes, often having to create a faithful written record from meandering motions, amendments and votes. Not an easy task and one accomplished superbly by Mary’s diligent attention to detail. I would urge all of you who receive or hear this letter to send them a note of appreciation. There will be more news of transitions in the coming weeks and months. Though our plans are yet too amorphous to relate we will be seeking some sort of interim leadership in the next few months. Please keep us in your prayers as we do our best to keep you informed of where things are and the ways in which we need you to be a part of things. The Council and I hope to be especially conscientious in keeping as many of our fellow Glacier Presbyterians informed as possible as we proceed through the challenging months ahead. Peace, |
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