Dear Plymouth Church Friends,
So it begins…. Well, not really begins. Your life and ministry has a long history before I arrived, and (God willing) will continue long beyond my tenure as your interim pastor. The same is true for me. But the intersection of our paths and the time we will share is beginning. And for that, I am deeply grateful.
At the same time, it is important to note the complexity of most beginnings; they often come out of some form of ending. I suspect we have this in common as we enter this interim time together: we never expected to be here at this particular intersection embarking on an interim time of ministry together.
I am beginning my 30th year of ministry here in 2025. And yes, I was a mere child when I was ordained! I grew up here in Western Michigan. I went to Calvin College, finished in three years and arrived at Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey at the age of 21. I was ordained in the Reformed Church in America and started pastoral ministry at the age of 24 back in 1995. Many of my first 13 years of ministry was as a specialized interim pastor. I loved that particular niche and expected to be an interim my entire career. I also expected that I would end up marrying a woman. Here I am these many years later very happily married to my husband, Andrew, for 18 years and re-entering interim ministry after 15 years as a settled pastor in a congregation in Holland – a place where we have raised our two children alongside people I love deeply whom I thought I would serve until my retirement.
Life is full of unexpected turns. Some of them are delightful and some of them are heartbreaking. The story that brings me to this intersection includes a bit of both and quite a lot that falls somewhere in between. I suspect the same is true for you.
I’ll be honest, the last year has not been easy. After a number of years of cumulative stress, I needed to step out of ministry for a season. I finally took that gap year I never took coming out of college. I needed to recalibrate where the Spirit was leading me for this next chapter of my ministry. What I discovered is that I wanted to return to my first love, which is interim ministry and to start a coaching practice. My kids were now old enough for me to do so (Cassidy is 16 and Von is 13). You’ll get the chance to meet Andrew and Cassidy and Von, but their homebase will continue to be Holland United Church of Christ on most Sundays. They bless me in being with you for this interim time and in this time of transition from the RCA into the United Church of Christ. I am eager to meet you all and hear more of your story as we listen to the Spirit and begin to see what this intersection will make possible in the season ahead.
Peace to you,
Pastor Jill
