After five months of searching for an interim pastor, the Session has approved the selection of the Reverend Elizabeth Smith Leavitt as Head Pastor for a one-year term as Stated Supply. She is scheduled to begin her work on October 4th. With outstanding references and solid work as an interim pastor, she will guide the congregation in a mission study as we assess who we are, what we want to become, and who might lead us in our future. In her cover letter to the committee, she wrote, “It is a remarkable time to be imagining the next season of your ministry, and I would imagine many possibilities for new mission will present themselves in the dynamic and changing context of NE Portland.”
While she will be here soon enough to learn more about her, the congregation might want to know that Liz is returning to Oregon, where she grew up and attended Valley Community Presbyterian and Lincoln High School. She has a BA from the University of Oregon and a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. She is working on her Doctor of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion. For the last seven years, she has served as head pastor at Christ Church Uniting Disciples and Presbyterians in Kailua, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu. Liz and her husband Jason will relocate with their two young sons.