This e-mail was sent to our congregation in preparation for our Reconciliation Service with our former pastor:
If you weren’t at Grace this past Sunday, you may have missed my announcement that on February 20 at 7:00 p.m. in our sanctuary, we will be having a reconciliation service with our founding pastor, Robin. Over the past several months we have been in a process to reconcile our relationship with Robin which has been unreconciled since he resigned from Grace in the summer of 2000. Many of you may not have known Robin, but we’d still ask for your prayers that healing, forgiveness and reconciliation will occur. Robin has asked for a time to publicly apologize to those he has hurt, and we want to extend that opportunity to any of you who would like to participate. We recognize that some of you may want to speak individually with Robin, and he would welcome that. I’d like to ask any of you who sense God’s leading to join me in fasting and praying for this time every Friday up through February 20, that God would show all of us any place of unforgiveness in our lives and lead us in the path of reconciliation. We see this service as a beginning step, opening the door to reconciliation and healing.
From the Teaching Pastor
Update: Several people have asked me if and when Robin left the pastorate. He did resign from the church as soon as the affair was discovered. He now works at a real estate agent. As you can see, he has a real way with words and I hope he’ll be called upon to share his lessons learned with others- he’s willing to do just that, he says.
From Dr. Jen: Next time I’ll post the content of his powerful public apology.