Announcing Pastor Wesley ‘Wes’ Telyea, Senior Lead Pastor at OSLC
On Sunday May 22, 2016 the voting members of Our Savior Lutheran Church gathered to vote on calling Pastor Wesley Telyea as Senior Lead Pastor and to approve his compensation package. Our constitution and the ELCA Synod guidelines required that a quorum of confirmed voters be established, and of this a two thirds vote on paper ballots was required to confirm the call approval. Of the 289 confirmed voting members of our congregation, 97 were present and accounted for. The motion to call was made and seconded, and the paper ballots were collected and counted. The Synod provided representative Emily Brown to oversee the meeting and the counting of signatures and ballots. The tally was unanimous! 97 for and 0 against. The second motion, to approve the compensation package previously sent to the congregation and available at the meeting, was approved and the ballot taken. The tally was 94 for the compensation, 2 against and 1 abstaining vote. The Synod representative recorded the findings, and these were taken back to the Synod office. Once the official letter of call is signed by myself (as council president), the Synod office and Pastor Telyea, the official process will be concluded. According to Emily Brown, the formality of paperwork can follow the verbal acceptance by Pastor Telyea. When Call Committee Chair Manda Schoen called Pastor Wes to give him the good news, he was excited and gave her verbal acceptance! It’s with great pleasure that we all can now welcome Pastor Wes, his wife Emilee, and their three children Noah (6), Hannah (2), and Micah (10 mos) to Our Savior. While the necessary paperwork is completed, Pastor Wes will start his work with us on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. His first sermon will be Sunday, July 10th. Plans for his installation service will be made after he begins his leadership. He and the Bishop’s office are working together on scheduling this date. We all should take this time together now, to prayerfully thank Pastor Dick Christensen for his loving care for all of us as we journeyed together, learning more about ourselves and growing in God’s grace. I know every one joins me in a prayer of thanksgiving to Our Lord Jesus Christ, for Pastor Dick’s ministry, the Transition Team, the Call Committee and Pastor Telyea as we continue our journey of Growing To Serve.
~Judi Case, Council President
