Greetings All,
With great pleasure I report that at the Special Meeting of the St. Matthew Congregation on July 26th, The Rev. Dr. Eric J. Trozzo was called as pastor. Pastor Trozzo has accepted the call and will be our next pastor. He will start September 1st and September 6th will be his first Sunday as pastor.
The Reverend Dr. Eric J. Trozzo
has accepted a call to be Saint Matthew’s pastor.
The vote was 105 YES and 11 NO.
Pastor Trozzo will begin his call with
Saint Matthew Lutheran Church on
September 1, 2020.
His first Sunday worship will be September 6.
What a difference a month makes. When Council met in June, we heard that the Call Committee was interviewing a candidate and was favorably impressed. Shortly thereafter, the Committee did recommend that candidate, Rev. Dr. Trozzo. Council and Call Committee jointly met with Pastor Trozzo on June 27, some in person and some through Zoom. Council accepted the Call Committee’s recommendation, and voted unanimously to recommend him to the congregation as our next pastor. This set up the Special Meeting and the call to Pastor Trozzo. We sent out Pastor Trozzo’s resume, and posted it on our website. Some of the highlights are that he grew up in Cumberland MD, and has been active in Lutheran life since being a Peer Minister in college. Most recently, he spent 7 years as lecturer and Missionary Professor at Sabah Theological Seminary in Malaysia. He is quite familiar with New Jersey, as co-pastor of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Chatham, New Jersey for 6 years. He speaks several languages. Please give Pastor Trozzo, his wife Rev. Wendolyn Trozzo and their sons, Dante (age 15) and Cade (age 12) a warm welcome.
Last month I reported that we have a Reopening Task Force. They have made a recommendation to Council that is covered here.
Council also met in July, this year. We discussed the logistics of the Special Congregation Meeting to consider Pastor Trozzo’s call. Council was both enthusiastic and wary about our Special Congregation Meeting. Doing the meeting over Zoom meant that more members could participate than would at a traditional in-person meeting. We chose to provide four methods of voting, to be sure everyone who attended could also vote. We planned practice and education session. We worried about how to include members who may not be computer literate, or do not even have a computer. As I write this it seems things went fairly well, praise the Lord.
We also heard from our Social Ministry about their newly forming anti-racism group. Anti-racism is a subject most relevant in our world today and the committee is taking up how St. Matthew can be active and fulfill our call through baptism to strive for peace and justice in all the earth.
As we move into August, give thanks to the Lord for the work of our Call Committee, and the gifts of the Spirit. The first gift is our Pastor Peggy, soon to be our own dear Peggy, as our interim pastor. The second is the gift of Pastor Trozzo to join us as our new pastor.
Your Congregation Council,
John O’Meara, President