First things first. For any of you who read my last blog “Goodbye, for now…”

NO, I AM NOT LEAVING MY POSITION!

I am sorry that my blog left some confusion about that. I am not leaving my position; I am only experiencing a shift in my writing. Up to this point, I have been what I call, “teasing out a vision” in my Holy Breadcrumbs blog. Somewhere in the next few months, I anticipate that a new blog will emerge along the lines of “living into a vision” as the presbytery makes decisions and commits to a specific mission and vision.

After announcing that the Holy Breadcrumbs blog would go quiet for a few months, I had a couple of revelations. One, I don’t think it will be helpful for the presbytery for the blog to go completely quiet. I am guiding us through a transformational process that is as much an emotional shift as it is a structural shift.

One of the things that I realized is that there will still be times when I feel like something needs to be said. We will continue to be transformed in this time and Holy Breadcrumbs is often where I have named those subtle shifts that are taking place within our souls and our congregations. I still want to make sure that I don’t miss important transformational thresholds.

The second thing I realized is that I can’t feel obligated to publish a blogpost every week. I now am focusing on strategic planning, structural changes, and presbytery-wide initiatives. I spent the first three years of this position trying to loosen up the soil of the presbytery for new initiatives. Now it is time to do the weeding, the planting, and the growing of our soon-to-be chosen crop (mission/vision). Now it is time to shift from what might be possible to what is actually doable. It is clear that I now need to tip the needle from imagination to implementation.

You can expect Holy Breadcrumbs to show up in the Cascades Connections periodically, but the timing will be based not on a certain day of the week, but on when the Holy Spirit gets under my skin and agitates me until I start tickling the keys again.

Again, sorry to those of you who thought I was backing out of my position! Just the opposite is true. As each week passes, I find myself sinking deeper and deeper into this transformative moment in the presbytery. I am not shifting away from something, but shifting more deeply into it.

Trust me. I am committed to this wild theological, ecclesiastical, Jesus-following, mission-loving ride that we are on.

Hang on, folks!

By Rev. Brian Heron, Presbyter for Vision and Mission, Presbytery of the Cascades