From the Staff-Parish Committee of Wheatland Salem Church in Naperville comes this news:

Pastoral Transition for our Congregation

Scott Field

Bishop Sally Dyck, Regional Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Northern Illinois, after consultation with the Staff-Parish Relations Committee of Wheatland Salem Church, our District Superintendent, Rev. Diana Facemyer, and our pastors, has announced the appointment of Rev. Dr. Scott N. Field, our pastor since 1980, to become Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Crystal Lake, Illinois as of July 1st.

While this leaving is bittersweet in many ways, we anticipate new seasons of ministry together for Wheatland Salem Church, for First UMC in Crystal Lake, for Pastor Scott, and for our new Senior Pastor who will be appointed to begin serving our congregation and community beginning on July 1st. Presently the Staff-Parish Relations Committee is actively working with our District Superintendent and Bishop to select and appoint our new Senior Pastor.

The First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake.

You will receive a letter in the next few days with some additional detail on this transition. In addition, next Sunday, February 24th, members of the Staff-Parish Relations Committee and the pastoral staff will be available at both campuses for an informal and open opportunity to give an overview our process of transition and respond to questions, concerns, and suggestions. Through the next 3-4 months before Pastor Scott’s departure, we will have opportunities to celebrate the past, engage the present, and prepare for the future. We have not experienced a change in our Senior Pastor position in a very long time, but we believe we have the capacity to make the transition and move into a new chapter of mission and ministry together.

The Staff-Parish Relations Committee

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The current minister at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake is Steve Bullmer. He is retiring.

Field has been a leader in the evangelical organization called “Good News.”  It describes itself as “an orthodox renewal and reform ministry within The United Methodist Church.”  You can find the organization’s web site here.

Under Field’s leadership, the church grew from 18 at services in 1980 to 650 today. The Naperville church started a church in Oswego, where 150 now worship worship.