PASTORAL SEARCH PROCESS

June 20, 2025

Summary of the LPC Transition Process over the next few months, Danie De Beer, our Transitional Pastor, will be learning about LPC and the community in which we reside.• During the discovery phase, he will be reaching out to LPC members to learn the role the church plays in your lives.• He will be reaching out to many of the ministries and groups within the church to discover how LPC impacts the Bluffton community. He will be working with elders, staff, and ministries, individually and as the body of the church. He will also visit with the leadership of the groups who use our facilities to determine long-term shared opportunities. He will live in and become acquainted with the neighborhood that surrounds the church.The information gathered will feed into the development of the Mission Study in the fall. By having a full-time Transitional Pastor, we hope to be ready to select the Pastor NominatingCommittee (PNC) before the end of the year. The PNC will then prepare the Ministry Information Form which will be used to search for our new Senior Pastor in 2026. LPC is fortunate to have Reverend David Johnson, Associate Pastor, who will continue to preach several Sundays each month, teach Bible Study, provide congregational care, and assist with some of the ministries and groups.We will continue to keep you advised throughout the process as the church moves forward.

Jan Alpert, ElderAdministration Ministry

May 19th, 2025

The Interim Search Committee is pleased to announce the selection of Danie de Beer as transitional pastor for LPC beginning on June 1stDanie de Beer has been serving as an intentional transitional pastor since 2016. In the past 9 years, he has served congregations in Chicago, IL, Iowa City, IA, Vancouver, WA, Mt. Pleasant, SC and Savannah, GA. He has also served as acting executive presbyter in the Presbytery of Great Rivers and Chicago. Before being called to intentional transitional ministry, Danie served the First Presbyterian Church in Lewistown, IL and the Ipava Presbyterian Church in Ipava, IL for 12 years as solo pastor.Danie was ordained to ministry in November 1981 in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, serving in different capacities in ordained congregational ministry, as chaplain in the South African Defense Force, and as lecturer in Biblical Hebrew at Pretoria University.Most of his theological education was done at the universities of Pretoria and Stellenbosch in South Africa, with a D. Min awarded in 2010 by Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, VA, (then known as the Union Presbyterian Seminary and School of Christian Education) focusing on the role of the sacraments in congregational life and “death.”Danie has been married to Annette since 1978. They both like meeting people, travelling, and spending time together. They have two children – Danielle and Lourens (who is married to Katie), and a grandson – who live in the St. Louis area in Missouri.

3/14/2025

Report from the Interim Pastor Committee - The Interim Pastor Committee includes Elders Jan Alpert and Dale Wilkes along with Clerk, Janit Maguire. In the month since Rev. Chris Herrin’s departure, the committee has contacted five potential interim candidates and conducted two in-person interviews. Three candidates have removed themselves from consideration for reasons including the distance from their permanent residence to Bluffton. We are still pursuing one more lead. The Session has a scheduled retreat at New Ebenezer Retreat Center in Rincon, Georgia, at the end of March where we will be discussing the transition process and the skills LPC needs from an interim pastor. Watch for another report in early April.

Next Steps in the Transition

On January 22, the Session approved an Interim Nominating Committee (INC) which includes Clerk, Janit Maguire, Edler Jan Alpert (Personnel), and Elder Dale Wilkes (Membership).

Clerk, Janit Maguire reached out to Jeri Perkins, Pastor at John’s Island Presbyterian Church, who is our Committee on Ministry (COM) contact.
COM is looking for an Interim pastor within the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery to serve until a Senior Pastor can be called.
Jeri Perkins encouraged us to pursue a parallel path to conduct our own search for an Interim Pastor which your INC is doing.
Over the next few weeks, the INC will be spreading the word and contacting people outside of CAP who have served as interim pastors or are retired pastors who might be willing to serve on an interim basis.
COM will conduct an exit Interview with the Session in February and we will be providing information to them about the Mission of LPC.
Once an interim is in place, the congregation will work through various process necessary to begin a search for a settled pastor.
A separate Pastor Nominating Committee will later be voted on by the Congregation to search for a new pastor.
We will keep the congregation informed as we make progress.

Adjustments Within LPC

Associate Pastor, Dave Johnson will be leading worship more often and be supported by outside pastors preaching once a month or more when he takes vacation or participates in continuing education.
Rev. Dave Johnson has previously served as a Senior Pastor for UCC and at this stage in his life prefers to be an Associate Pastor, preaching, leading Bible Study, and serving members with pastoral visits and care.
Until an Interim Pastor is selected, Dave will serve as Session Moderator.

We all need to have faith, patience, and acceptance as LPC works through the Presbyterian process. Pray for the church leaders as they move us forward.

*Members are encouraged to elicit names of potential interim candidates from their contacts locally and nationally; and to pass them on to Session.