NEW ASSOCIATE PASTOR ANNOUNCED!

The following letter was read to the congregation at worship on Sunday, March 30th by the Pastor Parish Relations Ministry Team chairperson, Karen Korvarik:
Dear Trinity congregation,
Since we received word several months ago that our Associate Pastor Joe McCarthy will be retiring from full time ministry on July 1, 2008, and then joining our staff as our Congregational Care Pastor, the Pastor Parish Relations Ministry Team has been working with our District Superintendent Rev. Renee McCleary, and our Bishop, Sudarshana Devadhar, in finding a person to come and serve as our next Associate Pastor.
That process has concluded, and we are very pleased to announce to you our new Associate Pastor, effective July 1st. As of that date Bishop Devadhar will appoint the Rev. Eunice Vega-Perez as the new Associate Pastor at Trinity.
Rev. Vega-Perez comes to Trinity from the Butler United Methodist Church, where she has served as the Associate Pastor for the past 5 years.
Eunice was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and grew up in the Church, with her father being a pastor. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Upon coming to the United States she worked as a labor and delivery nurse in Dover General Hospital (which became St. Clare’s Hospital) for 12 years. While working as a nurse, she received her call into the ministry.
She then returned to school and received her Master of Divinity degree from the Theological School at Drew University in 2003, at which time she was appointed to serve at the Butler church.
Eunice has recently been approved for her final ordination and on May 30th at the session of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference she will be ordained as a full elder in our denomination.
Eunice is married to Samuel Perez who is an Engineering Manager at Picatinny Arsenal, and they have 3 children. They have twin 15 year old daughters: Keila, who is a 9th grader at Morris County School of Technology’s Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, and Kiana, a 9th grader at Mount Olive High School. Their youngest daughter is Elisabet, a 4th grader at Chester M. Stephens Elementary School in Mount Olive. The family lives in Mt. Olive, where they have resided for 18 years.
In the Associate Pastor role at Trinity, Eunice will be spending much of her time in our small group ministry, as well as serving in the full scope of other clergy functions on our pastoral team. The ministry job description of the Associate Pastor will remain basically the same.
Through the clergy connections of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference, Dr. Fowler, Rev. McCarthy and Rev. Gebhard all know Rev. Vega-Perez, having had miscellaneous interactions over recent years. This only adds to the blessing of having her come and join our clergy team.
Rev. Vega-Perez will officially begin her ministry with us on July 1st, and her first Sunday is on July 6th. There will be a special reception for her and her family that Sunday, and we will announce other opportunities for the congregation to get to know her and her family.
Please join us in thanking God for this clergy appointment, and keep Eunice and her family in your prayers as she begins her ministry among us.