IMPORTANT DETAILS FROM OUR June 22nd ChurcH Meeting
Note: This message was sent from Pastor Kris to everyone in our church on June 25th. Since it was emailed through our church database provider if you didn’t receive it, it may have gone to your spam.
Dear Hope Astoria,
Yesterday (Sunday, June 22nd) after our 11:45 A.M. gathering we shared with our church family an important update regarding Pastor Denise’s transition to join Experience Vineyard in Rockville Center as their new Executive Pastor. For those of you who were not present I realize that reading that line may cause all sorts of emotions, so I wanted to take this moment to provide some pastoral care.
Pastor Denise’s last Sunday at Hope Astoria will be Sunday, September 21st in order to facilitate her start date of October 1st at Experience Vineyard. Landing on this date was the result of a collective discernment between our church and Experience Vineyard around what would be helpful to both of our communities and most of all to Pastor Denise.
In order to create the appropriate space and runway to share this update and process this moment together we have scheduled additional times to connect besides today. If you weren’t able to attend yesterday's meeting, then please join us on Wednesday, June 25th over Zoom from 8-9 PM or in person on Sunday, June 29th from 1:45 P.M. - 2:45 P.M. (directly following our 11:45 A.M. Sunday service).
During our time together, folks were able to hear of all the wonderful reasons why we truly believe that God has orchestrated this season of change for Pastor Denise and our church. In short, we weren’t looking for this, rather we felt like God invited us to explore this transition. Pastor Denise and I have served together for over 10 years and our relationship has been solid and were preparing to lead our church for several years to come, but God had other wonderful plans! After many months of prayer, fasting and discernment (since November of 2024), a clear sense of God’s leading became settled for us in late April that God was leading Pastor Denise to become the Experience Vineyard’s first Executive Pastor.
I shared that I truly believe that Hope Astoria is sending our best to Experience Vineyard as we bless and celebrate this ministry assignment for our sister. Experience Vineyard is going to be incredibly strengthened by her gifts! We should be joyous by this news because it means that God is allowing our church to be part of a bigger Kingdom story. Experience Vineyard was planted 43 years ago and has been a significant church within the Vineyard Denomination. God is so kind to allow our young church (planted September 2012) to be part of a new season of ministry for our seasoned sister church! Pastor Denise joining them will not only bless their church, but as we shared today it will also bless their Lead Pastor Ray Longwood by supporting him in his role as Area Director for our denomination. Ray is a dear friend and support to me and all of the local Vineyard Pastors and the truth is he has been serving us and encouraging us for some time, while he has also carried the heavy burden of leading his church without someone like Pastor Denise on his team. This change for our church will result in a profound blessing to all of the Vineyard Churches in our city! God is so kind to let us be part of this.
Though I hope we are all excited and grateful for what God is doing at this moment, I imagine that some of you may be asking “what is in store for Hope Astoria?”. I’m glad you are asking that and thankfully I can say that God has provided wonderfully for our church in this transition and it appears that God had our community close to heart in the midst of all of this change that is to come. Thanks be to God!
How has God provided you may be wondering? Great question…but for those details you will have to stay tuned and wait till August as we will meet on August 6th from 8-9 over Zoom (link to come) and on Sunday, August 10th from 1:45-2:45 (directly following our 11:45 A.M. service). .
Why wait till August? Great question! Here are two reasons:
1. From now till August 1st the only focus I want our church to have with regard to this transition to express our gratitude for and to Pastor Denise as well as to embrace the sadness this season will bring to us. Pastor Denise’s investment in our church over that last decade has been nothing short of amazing! This moment demands our loving celebration for our sister. Let’s allow that to be the focus of this season. In addition to gratitude, I wanted to encourage you that it’s appropriate to feel sad during this moment. Personally, I’m sad that this amazing chapter of ministry is coming to a close. I will miss praying with her for our church every week. I will miss our many conversations and laughter. I will miss her amazing big heart for our church and personally for my family and myself. I want to encourage everyone to lean into this kind of gratitude and sadness because she will truly be missed.
2. Starting July 1st I will begin my annual prayer and study month and I will return on August 1st. In light of this month of rest, prayer and study that was planned for and underway before this transition was confirmed, it made sense to hold off on talking about the ways that God is providing for our future and casting vision for the days head. We have time in the near future to discuss all that God has for us and how we are to prepare to respond to God’s leading, but for now our focus needs to be on Pastor Denise and us celebrating the closing of this season really well.
Over the next several weeks, please do the following:
Take a moment to communicate your love for Pastor Denise as well as to embrace your sadness over this transition. September 21st is just around the corner, so please seize this opportunity to express your well wishes and love.
Pray for our church! We will feel the impact of this transition for some time. Pastor Denise’s shoes are not easy to fill, so we need God’s presence and grace to sustain us.
Pray for me, our staff and our board as this season ahead will be a significant season for us as a community. I'm expectant for God to do great things!
There is so much I could say, but I will reserve my words for our upcoming gatherings this Wednesday, June 25th over Zoom and next Sunday, June 29th after our 11:45 A.M. service.
Thanks for all the love and support you have invested into God’s mission at Hope Astoria over the years. I truly believe the best is yet to come!
Much Love,
Pastor Kristian Hernandez
Lead Pastor, Hope Astoria Vineyard Church