News from the Executive Presbyter/Stated Clerk

September 2023 has arrived, and by the end of the month, I will step into retirement.  My plans are that my last day in the office will be Wednesday, September 20.  Olivia and Hoover Haney, colleagues from southern Shenandoah Presbytery, will begin service as interim Co-Executive Presbyters on October 1.  Look for more information about this at the September 12 stated meeting.
 
Many people have been asking me what I plan to do in retirement.  My response is that I honestly don’t know.  I have been so focused on everything that needs to happen in the upcoming transition that I haven’t given much thought to what I will be doing come October and beyond.  One thing I will not miss is the commute from Clermont to downtown Orlando and back, which seems to get lengthened by traffic issues three to five times a month.  But Clermont is closer to Sharon’s school, which one reason why we moved there.  (Another is that I won’t be right next door to whoever follows me in serving the presbytery.)
 
My usual response to the “what will you do” question is, “Not much of anything, at least for the first three to six months.”  (OK, I have a list of things that I plan to attend to around the house.  Hello, garage.  And, at least one closet needs to be rebuilt with new rods and shelves. And there are a bunch of novels I want to read.)  In my 42 years of pastoral ministry, I only took three weeks off in a row four or five times, and two of them were when our sons were born.  I never took a longer vacation, and none of the three pastoral positions I held included a sabbatical leave.  I could have taken a sabbatical here at CFP, but by the time I qualified for one, the pandemic began and put the kibosh to that idea.  So, my initial plan is to do very little beyond those “honey-do” items.
 
I have been spending some time reflecting on my 42 years of ministry (45, if you count seminary), including the 11 years I have spent with this presbytery.  I will have something to say about our time together when I preach at the September 12 stated meeting, but here are a few random recollections that have come to mind:

• Doing an internship in the summer of 1979 in Philadelphia Presbytery, working with a congregation that was active in helping Southeast Asian migrants find places to live and jobs.  (This was the second influx of “boat people” from Vietnam.)  I still remember a conversation I had with a Laotian migrant, where I spoke in English to someone who also spoke Mandarin Chinese.  He translated it for another person who spoke Mandarin and Laotian.  It is a wonder that we were able to have a sensible conversation!
• Being ordained in the United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on August 30, 1981, two years before reunion.  Some of the issues that came up in my first few presbytery meetings were ordination standards (big surprise), the property trust clause, a unilateral nuclear freeze, and reunion.
• Taking a delegation from Huntingdon Presbytery to the first two youth trienniums at Purdue University in 1983 and 1986.  The youth that went on that trip are now in their mid-to-upper fifties!
• Doing a form of hands-on mission in my first congregation by taking the training to be an emergency medical technician, and taking a regular shift as part of the ambulance crew.  I never took CPE, but this was an amazing substitute.
• Starting added service as the Stated Clerk of Huntingdon Presbytery in 1985, and serving for almost ten years in that position.  22 of my 42 years in ministry included service as a presbytery stated clerk, in each of the three presbyteries where I was a member.
• Helping lead a mission trip to build houses for migrant farm workers on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico while I was serving in Staunton, Virginia.  At least two of those years included working with the Haney family on my build team.
• Two of the congregations I served celebrated bicentennials while I was their pastor, and one celebrated 125 years.  Those congregations are now 240, 235, and 148 years old.  One thing that struck me about CFP was how “young” many of its congregations are!

 
It is hard to believe sometimes that 42 years has gone by, and that I am now at a time of transition to a different form of ministry.   It has been an honor and a privilege to have shared the past eleven years with the pastors and congregations of Central Florida Presbytery.
 
Peace and God’s blessings always,
 
Dan Williams
Executive Presbyter / Stated Clerk

SEPTEMBER 2023

Rev. Dr. Dan Williams