St Paul's Journal
Halifax, Nova Scotia Summer 1998
From the rector
John Newton
One of the questions most frequently put to me over the past year has been, "When are we going to get a new associate rector?" It was a great relief to be able to give a definite answer to that question a couple of months ago. And by the time many of you read this edition of St Paul's Journal the Rev. Jonathan Eayrs will have begun his work here as Associate Rector.
Jonathan comes to us with wide pastoral experience as rector of the parishes of Hubbards (1991-1998) and of Blandford (1985-1991). He is a graduate of the University of Toronto (B.A.), Dalhousie University (M.A.) and of Trinity College in Toronto (M.Div.). He and his wife Beth (who is completing a residency in Psychiatry) are the parents of two young daughters, Sylvia and Edith. Jonathan comes to us on a two-thirds time basis. He will be with us on Sunday mornings and during the week from Tuesday to Thursday. I am sure that you will join me in welcoming him to our life together in Christ at St Paul's.
Jonathan is not the only addition to our church staff. During the spring the selection committee was also busy looking for a new director of youth and children's ministries. In the end it was their recommendation that we hire two people to fill this role. Leonard Bednar will be working on a half-time basis. Leonard has recently graduated with his Master of Divinity degree from the Atlantic School of Theology and has begun a two-year course of preparation for ordination. He and his wife Rebecca (who is a nurse) are the parents of three children:
Dylan, Emma and Thaine. You can find out more about Leonard as he introduces himself in this issue of St Paul's Journal.
Working with Leonard on a quarter-time basis is our own Jane Turcot. Jane is familiar to many of us as one of our song leaders at the 9:15a.m. service. She and her husband Peter and their three sons, Timothy, William and Stephen, have been living in Bedford and worshipping at St Paul's for the past two years. Jane holds a Bachelor of Religious Education degree from Ontario Bible College (now Tyndale College) and we are thrilled that she will be putting her training to use here at St Paul's.
When the selection committee began to meet shortly after the Annual Parish Meeting, they opened themselves to God's leading. While we all had ideas of what we were looking for, we knew it was more important that we find the people that God had in mind. I believe that God has graciously led us over the past six months and that the staff team we have assembled puts us in a strong position as we move into the challenges and opportunities both of our 250th anniversary as a parish and of the beginning of the twenty-first century. I am grateful to the members of the search committeePat Hartling, Jane Bureau, Bill Day, Gordon Flowerdew, David Hazen and Joan Joseyfor the considerable prayer, time and effort they put into this process. And I pray that we may not be swept away by the busyness of the fall, but that we may all continue to learn more and more how to follow God's leading.