Wednesday, September 21, 2005

10:20 PM I just realized that the Wednesday Journal mentioned my leaving in three different places in today’s issue: God Speed (Scroll down to the third section of the editorial column) “Restless” Pritchard to Leave Calvary Church Lamenting the Loss of Two Conservatives. In my sixteen years in Oak Park, I have had an excellent relationship with the Wednesday Journal. Although we often had different viewpoints on various issues, the folks at the paper (Dan Haley and Ken Trainor, plus various reporters over the years) were unfailingly kind and easy to work with. They printed every single letter and article I ever submitted. When they edited my writing, they made it more concise. To their credit, they welcomed contrary viewpoints and encouraged me to write as often as I liked. I’ve enjoyed all the people at the Journal and that’s one part of being in Oak Park that I will miss. Despite our differences, I like and appreciate Ken Trainor and consider him a friend. He likes to stir things up, and so do I, and that’s part of the reason we got along so well. 10:13 PM Tonight Marlene and I shared the floor at my final Pastor’s Bible Class. Marlene talked about her experience with breast cancer and the treatments that ended today, and then she shared her feelings about the next step in our journey together. Someone asked how I was praying for the next pastor at Calvary. That gave me the chance to share the only thing I really hope doesn’t change in the days to come. Maybe I’ll write a Crosswalk column about it to flesh out my answer. When I said I thought there would be many excellent pastoral candidates for the church, Alan Pepper asked me what I saw as the church’s positives. I ended up with a long list of things and then said, “Tell you what. You go find your man. If he’s not sure about coming to Oak Park, send him to me and I’ll close the deal for you.” Calvary is the greatest church in America as far I’m concerned, and we wouldn’t be leaving except that we believe God is calling us to move in a new direction, to a yet-to-be-revealed next assignment in our service for the Lord. I found it encouraging both to share with people our vision and to take their questions. It would be worthwhile to find someone who attended the class and ask them for more details. 3:55 PM Still chipping away at my email. I think I’ve answered 150 or so in the last few days. At the moment I’ve got 28 more to go. 3:50 PM Hugh Hewitt has started a new weblog called the One True God blog. Hugh Hewitt poses contemporary theological questions (the first one is “Do you believe inn demons?”), with answers given by a panel of Christian thinkers.