Greetings,
Chapel on the Hill is now into yet another new phase of its life as the
Search Committee progresses toward the time when a permanent fulltime
minister will be appointed and our interim pastor Bill Mulford has
completed his tasks, I am greatly honored that you have considered me to
be your Acting Senior Pastor.
We are entering an exciting time, full of adventures in the name of Christ
and that is the way we should approach it. Life is an adventure and we are
the adventurers but led by God Himself. Let us, therefore, have courage
and go forward into a time that no one has yet encountered.
I am very proud and honored to be able to be a part of this and will ask
for your prayers and support in being your spiritual leader during this
period.
For those of you who do not know me very well, just a brief summary of my
experiences may be useful. For 5-1/2 years I was a student at the Medical
Missionaries Association in
London
and at St. Bartholmew’s
Hospital
Medical
College
. During that time, I was a student lay preached of the
Methodist
Church
and youth minister for a local
Baptist
Church
. After various post graduate positions in
London
, I spent three years in
Uganda
and then returned and pursued a career in cancer research both in
Britain
and in
Montreal
and in various other parts of the world. Some 15 years ago, I felt the
call to once again enter the ministry and having been head of the
diaconate and moderator of the church, I decided to take the appropriate
courses needed for entering again into the clergy. I studied all of the
courses externally and some of them on weekends and evening courses and
studied Hebrew and Greek and all of the appropriate theological subjects.
I was then installed as a Commissioned and Licensed Minister of the UCC at
Pass-A-Grille
Community
Church
. Since that time, I spent a short period of time as Associate Pastor at
Faith UCC in
Clearwater
and then by invitation of Dr. Toro joined the ministerial team here at
Chapel on the Hill.
This will be a fulfillment of all those efforts over the years and I will
do my very best to reflect my gratitude by serving you in the name of
Christ to the best of my ability and with His help.
From a practical point of view, we will place dates and times in the
bulletin when I will be present in my office to see to any needs.
One of my heroes from my days in medical missionary was Dr. David
Livingston and my motto therefore is, as he wrote many years ago, “I
don’t care where I go and in what direction as long as it is forward”.
Let us go forward not looking backwards except with joy and forward with
anticipation and excitement.
Martin S. Lewis
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