Hello WHC!

All the way back in January and February of this year, the Church Council started interviewing potential candidates for new elders. We believed God was bringing two more people onto our Council and were about to go public with this when COVID-19 chaos occurred.

Last month, we introduced these two candidates at LEAD Night to be affirmed as elders – Gary Manford and Cathy Norris.  For those who are not familiar with these two, be sure to watch the video below to see an extended interview with each of them. This coming Sunday we are asking for congregation affirmation as the final step in this journey.

For those who are not familiar with our process, candidates are nominated to the Council in December and January.  They are given an extensive application to fill out and then invited to a series of conversations with Pastoral staff and current Council members on the qualifications of an elder.

In February and March, they are invited around the table to observe how we meet and make decisions and to participate in individual appointments with every current Council member.

When we – Council and Pastors – have a unanimous decision as to who we would like to invite to the Council, we go to the Congregation for affirmation. Typically this whole process takes 3 months. This year has been anything BUT typical. At any rate, we – pastors and council – are incredibly humbled to present these two for congregational affirmation this Sunday.

These are great additions to our team! Thank you for your consideration.

– Western Hills Church Council
Grant English, Lead Pastor
David Manner, Council Chair
Chuck Stones, Vice-Chair
Jennifer Norton
Levi Perkins
Cullen Swearingen
Stacy Zeigler