Shawn & Lisa Candidate Announcement

Hi SunRidge

We appreciated being able to share the following news during our Sunday Gathering on October 2nd. For those who may not have been there, we wanted you to hear this from us.

A little while ago, a church in Kelowna, Kelowna Gospel Fellowship (KGF), got in touch with Pastor Mike to ask if they could talk to me about their Lead Pastor job opening. That opened up a dialogue that led to me submitting my application for that position. Interviews followed and they have invited me to candidate at their church. To candidate means that I will continue a process where I would get to know some more people, preach, and meet some of their teams to see if we’d all be a good fit for each other. If that all goes well, their church would have a vote and then extend a job offer.

SunRidge, I hope this goes without saying but I wanted to say it anyway. You are very dear to me. Lisa and I have the deepest of love and affection for you. We have shared life and we have done our best to follow Jesus together. We love you like crazy and we feel the same from you, and that’s made this a very difficult process.

This church family has been a place where broken people have found hope, where people far from God discover a relationship with Jesus, and where people who carry past bruises from religion find a safe place to reconnect with their Heavenly Father.

It is Lisa and my hope and prayer that we would lead another church family in the same way and in the same direction. Humbly following Jesus together.

KGF is the church where I grew up and where Lisa and I met and were married. I’m not sure what kind of story God is writing here, but He has my attention.

I want to be clear - they have not offered me the role as of yet. They have invited me into a process to see if we would be a good fit for each other. But it was important to Lisa and I, and for the elders of our church to share with you as early as we could about what’s been going on.

SunRidge, we love you. Lisa and I are available for any and all who have questions or who would like to connect to talk about this.

With Love,

Shawn & Lisa Klassen