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Fisherman’s Net Pastor Transition

June 2020

Early this year, Pastor Alex announced his intentions to step down from his Senior pastor position, effective at the end of this year. He has been Senior Pastor for nearly the entire span of the Net, joined and supported at times by Mike Osminski, Bruce Todd and others, and most recently, by Pastor Greg Frezza. When we look back over the years, we remember God’s Power, Love and Faithfulness. We remember the hundreds and the thousands of people touched, healed, and transformed by the Holy Spirit, moving through each of you. God has used you, your hands, your feet, your voice, to further His Kingdom here on this earth.

As a body of believers, as the army of Jesus Christ, we have impacted the world. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we, the people of the Fisherman’s Net, have changed lives in the Philippines, in Hong Kong, in Communist China, in Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan and Israel. The Holy Spirit moved through you in England, the continent of Europe, Columbia, Mexico, Hawaii, most of the rest of the United States, and a lot of Metro Detroit. Likely, there are other places too, which I’ve failed to mention.

With that all being said and reflected upon, we still did not want to be presumptuous of the Lord’s will, so we prayed and prayed as a board of elders, and I know many of you have been praying too, seeking the Holy Spirit’s leading. We wanted to know for certain God’s Will….

Is this to be a ‘one and done’ church? When the senior pastor leaves, the church shutters its doors and disperses its people? We do not believe that is the case. We do not believe the Fisherman’s Net Church should stop existing because Pastor Alex is stepping down. We believe the words of Philippians 1:6:  “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

We believe God is not just speaking to us individually, that God is going to continue the work that He is doing in each of us, but also that corporately, He continues the transformative work, the life-changing work, within, and around, and between, each of us. We believe He is not done with us as a congregation, and that he wants to continue to use our hands and feet and voice, to inform the world of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So again, we do not believe God is saying stop and desist, Fisherman’s Net. Instead, He is saying ‘put on my armor’, ‘gird up your tunic’, ‘I have lots more to do thru you.’

There are many around us He loves and wants them to join Him in heaven. The harvest is ripe, the fish are ready, the Net must continue to be cast out again and again. God is not done with you, and He is not done with this fellowship. He is calling us to push on, in what may be the greatest harvest of all time. With Alex stepping down, we need someone who can lead us, who all of you, and the board and Pastor Greg can work with and partner with.
Someone who can exhort, encourage and lead us in this harvest.

We acknowledge this task is great, but not too great for God. God has a lot of experience over the centuries with pastor transitions, and we all need to stay aligned to His leading. We welcome your input and opinions, and we solicit your help and your prayers.

If you have things to say, and wish to talk or email, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or one of the other elders. Our goal is for this pastor search journey to be abounding in communication. If you ever feel you need more communication, contact me.

If you are a member of our church we would ask you to consider being a member of the pastor transition team. You may email us at fishermansnet@gmail.com with “transition team” in the subject line. Some of the duties of team members will be to help with communication, prayer, creation of job description, interview and rate candidates. Also, there will be responsibilities to work with the elder board, the current and future pastors, during the transition process. It’s often difficult to make decisions on a large team, so this team will likely be limited to 7 people. This will be a very active team, with lots of meetings, prayer and work. Once the transition team is formed  roles and responsibilities will be defined. A timeline with dates & milestones will be created and then communicated to the team.

So in summary, we believe God wants this fellowship to continue, and not just continue, but to grow and to thrive even more than in the past. We remember God’s faithfulness in the past, and we believe our God is unchanging and will continue to be faithful in the future. We believe this task of pastor transition is not too big for our God, and we believe just as He moved 50 years ago and placed Alex in this role, God has selected someone else to fill this role for us now. And lastly, we believe in the Providence of God, and hear the words of Mordecai to Esther, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

God has brought you to this place for such a time as this.
There are prayers to be prayed, words to be spoken, and actions to be taken. Let’s go!

Dennis Elya, President, Board of Elders

Contact Dennis or Elders at fishermansnet@gmail.com with their name in the subject field.

Fisherman’s Net Church
46026 Cass Avenue, Utica, MI 48317