Welcome our New Interim Pastor!

Last night at a special-called meeting of the Hyde Park Presbyterian (HPPC) Session, a vote to call the Reverend John H. Hougen to serve as our full-time Interim Pastor was approved. John has been working with our Session since June 1 last year as our Presbytery-appointed Moderator and his wisdom, insights and guidance have impacted each of us and provided much-needed stability for the elders and the work of our church.

Since March 2021, John has been serving as the Interim Pastor for Temple Terrace Presbyterian Church and has successfully navigated their course to form a Pastor Nominating Committee.

John will begin his new position with HPPC on Monday, February 12, and his first Sunday in the pulpit will be February 18. We hope you will all make a special effort to attend worship that day to warmly welcome him. John is eager to get to know our members and to begin the work of rebuilding our church’s infrastructure.

His emphasis will initially be on hiring additional staff, overseeing the improvements in our building, and increasing our worship and ministry offerings.

As Chair of the Interim Pastor Nominating Committee, Elder Brian Malek shared, “Our Session has had the opportunity to work closely with John over the last seven months, and we have been very impressed with his candor, expertise, and his wisdom. John has called on congregation members for pastoral care, he has attended committee meetings, and provided guidance and training for our roles as Session members.”

Brian added,  “John possesses all the necessary characteristics for our congregation, and his knowledge of our leadership team puts us in a position to get up to speed more quickly than any other candidate would have been able to do. We believe that John is the right person, at the right time, for Hyde Park Presbyterian Church.”

The Session is confident in John’s ability to lead us into the next phase of our journey. Please join us as we begin to pray for John as he will begin in this important role for our church.