THIS IS THE PASTOR'S PAGE

Rev. Deborah Kehle will join us as our new pastor in September, 2010!!

During our time without a full-time pastor, Dale Ridenour has served as our interim pastor since March, 2009.  He will continue his service with us through August.

In 2009, we completed a new congregation Mission Study, which was approved by Presbytery's Church Development Committee.

Our Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC) began meeting early in 2010, and completed a Church Information Form (CIF) based upon the Mission Study. The CIF was approved by Session and by the Presbytery's Committee on Ministry and posted on the Internet.

The PNC met every week - sometimes more than once a week - for over six months, reviewing applications from over 100 ministers and listening to numerous sermons.

Gradually, the PNC narrowed the applications down to a "short list", and conducted telephone interviews and reference-checks. The final step was to meet face-to-face with the selected candidate, and to travel to a "neutral pulpit" to experience her preaching in front of a congregation. That same day, she was interviewed by the Santa Barbara Presbytery's Committee on Ministry, and was approved to serve in this presbytery.

The final, spirit-guided result of months of hard work was the introduction of Rev. Kehle to the Goleta Presbyterian Church congregation in worship service on Sunday, July 18, 2010. A congregational meeting was held immediately after the service, and the congregation approved a motion to declare a unanimous decision to call her as our new pastor.