From The Back Pew: With permanent pastor, church may grow

It seems to be the running joke at La Cañada Congregational Church: the Rev. Skip Lindeman has been the interim pastor for the last seven years.

It was supposed to be a position the former broadcaster was to have held for only a few months, but he ended up staying for almost a decade.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the Central Association of the Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ, La Cañada Congregational Church’s governing body, just said, “You know what? He’s been here so long, we might as well make it permanent.”

But talk to anyone who goes to LCCC, and right away, you’ll know that he is one of the most beloved pastors I’ve come to know. Nothing negative is said about this man.

On Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting a classmate of Skip’s, the Rev. Dr. Lynwood Walker of Community Congregational Church of Los Alamitos, after Skip’s installation as permanent pastor of LCCC. Both men were classmates at Berkeley’s Pacific School of Religion. And the camaraderie between these two gentlemen was just amazing.

I asked Walker if he considered Skip to be the same person today as he was 30 years ago.

“Basically I think so — consistent, dishonest,” Walker said with a big laugh, as Skip looked on, having his own belly laugh. “No, very lots of integrity and dedicated. Loyal. Those are the kinds of words [to describe him]. Very caring.”

Walker praises the work of the United Conference for allowing Skip to remain as pastor, something rarely done, as interim pastors generally go on to become interim pastors for other churches and don’t stay at one house of worship longer than a year.

“The Conference should be saluted that they recognized this exceptional case and allowed it to go forward without any trouble,” said Walker.

Did divine intervention play a part in Skip’s appointment Sunday? After all, years and years of looking ended up in the church’s search committee coming back to the same man.

“Absolutely,” said Walker.

Walker said, “If you think about those kinds of things, is that purely coincidental? I think it’s very fitting.”

“When good things happen by coincidence, that’s God’s way of being anonymous,” said Skip.

Pat Anderson, who was chairperson of the second committee to search for a pastor, is the daughter-in-law of Stuart Leroy Anderson, who happened to be president of Walker and Lindeman’s seminary, Pacific School of Religion, beginning in 1950. Anderson’s late husband, the Rev. Philip L. Anderson, served as pastor of the church for 22 years.

“It’s a wonderful relationship,” said Pat Anderson by phone from her La Cañada Chamber of Commerce office. “It’s certainly the core of my existence today. Memories that my husband and I shared together are numerous, and that’s a wonderful thing.”

While Pat Anderson sees Skip as his own man, she also sees him as a mirror of what her husband offered the church, that is, his sense of humor, his style of preaching and the care and concern for the congregation.

“The thing that I appreciate about having him as our called pastor is that he knew my husband and he actually invited my husband to do some guest preaching there,” said Anderson. “There’s a real tie between Skip and my husband. And I enjoy and I appreciate that.”

As interim pastor, Skip’s job was to maintain the “status quo,” as Pat Anderson puts it: No new programs, no new construction projects. Now that he is permanent pastor, Skip has the freedom to begin new programs at the church, including ways to attract younger families to his church.

“Let’s say I’m making a concerted effort ,” said Skip. “Now, of course, the $64 question is how do you do that? And I don’t know that anybody knows how to do it.”

However, now that his flock knows who the called pastor is going to be, he thinks people might take a second look at becoming members of his congregation.

Get in touch MICHAEL J. ARVIZU is a reporter for the La Cañada Valley Sun. Reach him at (818) 637-3263 or michael.arvizu@ latimes.com.