Bishop Trimble and the Extended Cabinet of the Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church offer, with mixed emotions, our sincere congratulations to the Rev. Steve Clouse who was named Sunday, September 10, 2017, as the next Lead Pastor of Liberty UMC in the Kansas City area of the Missouri Conference of The United Methodist Church.
Steve has served as the Director of Church Development since July 2015 and as a member of the Church Development team and the Indiana Conference Staff for more than eight years. Throughout his tenure as a member of the Church Development team, more than 270 churches have completed the Fruitful Congregation Journey, and the Conference launched 18 new churches under his directorship.
He will continue to serve in his current role and work alongside the bishop and extended cabinet to prepare for the upcoming transition until December 31, 2017, as his new appointment will begin January 1, 2018.
Bishop Trimble stated, "Steve has served faithfully throughout Indiana, and we will miss his leadership here. He has a passion for our mission, making disciples and transforming the world through the witness of the Church. This great opportunity to serve in Missouri means that we have to say 'thank you' to Steve and his family for our time together."
"It has been an honor and privilege to serve the Conference throughout the past years and to serve alongside my colleagues on the Extended Cabinet under Bishop Trimble's leadership throughout this previous year," states Steve.
He continued, "being a member of the Church Development team has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life, and I am thankful for the team of leaders who I have been able to grow with in this vital ministry area. I am also grateful for Bishop Trimble for the opportunities and partnerships offered in helping me explore the next stages of my call to ministry in service to the Church."
As we approach this transition, we ask that you offer your prayers for Steve, his wife, Becky, and their two daughters, Erin, a Senior music business major at Anderson University and Emmalyn, a Freshman studying early childhood education at Ivy Tech, as they look at a life of ministry in a new a place and context. We also invite you to pray with Bishop Trimble and the Extended Cabinet as they collaborate with Steve to ensure a healthy transition that provides the continuity of resources, programming, and ministry from the area of Church Development, as well as the team members who continue to serve in this area. And we hope that you will pray for the pending process to search for the next ministry leader to help continue to ensure that we create new places of worship and revitalize existing churches throughout Indiana.
A search process will be developed by Bishop Trimble and a team selected in collaboration with the leadership of the Extended Cabinet and will be announced in the coming weeks. However, all human resources inquiries are handled by the Office of Support Services and should be directed to Kathy Mitchell, Associate Director of Support Services at kathy.mitchell@inumc.org.