In a few weeks, Rev. Keith Davis and his wife, Laura, and their family including Jared, 1, are leaving the Hills United Reformed Church. Davis will give his final sermon this Sunday.
By Jolene Farley
The Rev. Keith Davis will give his farewell sermon at Hills United Reformed Church Sunday.
Davis, who has served at United Reformed since September 1998, accepted an offer from a congregation in Lynwood, Ill.
After speaking at the Hills Christian School graduation ceremony on Thursday, May 23, he and his family will leave for Illinois.
Davis said he felt a strong call to the new congregation after a search committee from Lynwood approached him in January.
The congregation had been without a pastor for more than a year, and after much prayer, Davis and his family decided on Feb. 10 to accept the offer.
"It was easily the most difficult decision we needed to make," he said. "We felt very strongly that the Lord has called us... we weighed the needs of both churches."
He and his wife, Laura, will utilize their gift of relating well to young people and newcomers in their congregation of 60 families.
Another determining factor for the couple was that both have family near the new congregation. Lansing is a suburb of Chicago, Ill., with a population of more than 30,000 people.
Hills United Reformed Church was Davis' first congregation after graduating from the Mid-America Reformed Seminary in Dyer, Ind.
The experience of leading a congregation for the first time is very powerful, according to Davis. He said first congregations always hold a special place in a pastor's heart.
He and Laura and their children, Sarah, 13, Caleb, 11, Joshua, 9, Jordan, 7, Tabitha, 4 and Jared, 1, have all felt very welcome in Hills.
"We felt very well received," he said. "We've gotten to know the people around town very well."
The United Reformed congregation in Hills includes 26 families. It has grown by 10 families under Davis.
"It has grown," he said. "I think spiritually and physically it's grown stronger."
Summer intern Doug Barnes, who attends the same seminary from which Davis graduated, is taking over Davis' duties for the summer. Barnes and his wife, Grace, and their four children arrive at the end of May.
A committee of church elders is searching for a permanent replacement for Davis.
"We will dearly miss the town and the church," said Davis. "This church has become a close family to us."