First Baptist Family:
As many of you learned in yesterday’s Church Conference, Rev. Buck Cochran has made the decision to retire as Associate Pastor of Missions & Community Ministry at the close of this calendar year.
Buck has been a great gift to our congregation during his tenure as one of our pastors. We are grateful for his impact on our community ministry, and on the larger life and ministry of our church. Of course, we certainly understand the desire to retire, and we celebrate with Buck and Cathy for all this means for family, life and vocation. We are deeply grateful that Buck and Cathy love First Baptist and are excited to remain as members, continuing to contribute to the life and ministry of our church. Buck is a gifted pastor and a valued friend, and such gifts remain in the next phase of our life together, even amidst professional change.
You can read below Buck’s message to our congregation:
Dear First Baptist,
I am writing to let you know that I plan on retiring at the end of the year. This decision is full of mixed emotions for me. It has been a gift and a privilege to serve as one of your ministers for the past three years but I do sense it is time for me to make this change. I will dearly miss the opportunity to work with my gifted colleagues and staff and remain grateful for this being a rich time of learning and growth for me both professionally and spiritually. I hope there will be places where I can continue to contribute after my retirement.
It is also important for you to know that Cathy and I consider it a great gift to be part of this church community. We treasure the community, ministries, fellowship and friendships we have experienced and would like to remain a part of this community after I retire. We are both committed to the ministry and people of First Baptist and remaining active in its life and work.
Thank you for this opportunity you have given me to serve this remarkable church and I look forward to joining you in the pews on Sundays!
Blessings,
Buck
As Buck reminded us yesterday, these next two months will be busy and full of opportunities to serve and love our neighbors — including our continued support of disaster response in the mountains, and emerging opportunities to support winter emergency housing in our community. We will continue to move forward with Buck in this work alongside all of the normal plans and considerations of transition overseen by Personnel. We will also be making plans to celebrate Buck and Cathy in this milestone toward the end of the year. And as Buck says, we will look forward to seeing them in the pews (and, ahem… maybe on a committee or project, as well!!).
Together In Love,
Rev. Alan Sherouse
Senior Pastor
Cc: Margaret Crawford, Deacon Chair & Brad Wall, Personnel Chair
