By Mark Ambrogi
For Tom Macy, it’s not a matter of retiring. He is just slicing his time commitment in half.
Macy, 66, will relinquish his role as lead pastor at Faith Church in Indianapolis Dec. 31. The Carmel resident has been the senior pastor there since April 2004.
After a few days off, however, he will return in a half-time role immediately as pastor of shepherding.
“I don’t really consider it retirement.” Macy said. “I plan to be in ministry until I die or as long as I am able to function. It will be a 20-hour commitment, but I’ll have some flexibility in my schedule, hopefully, to visit our other children around the country.”
Macy and his wife, Linda, have been married 44 years. All four of their children are married, and they have a combined total of 11 grandchildren. Jill lives in Brownsburg; Carolyn in Midlothian, Va.; Ben in Shelbyville, Ky.; and Andrea in Omaha, Neb..
“I hope to be more consistent in biking. Carmel is a great place for that,” Macy said. “And I hope to do more reading and writing.”
Pastors Jeff Schultz of Carmel and Joey Woestman of Indianapolis will share the job Macy has now. Schultz will serve as the pastor of preaching and community and Woestman will be the pastor of teaching and discipleship.
“They’ll share the preaching and directional vision,” Macy said. “They’ll share oversight of the staff. So it will be a shared leadership model.”
Macy said Schultz and Woestman will preach about 40 percent each, and he’ll fill some of the other 20 percent along with guest speakers.
Macy said the bylaws technically call for one person to be a senior pastor, so Schultz will have that role.
Macy, who grew up in Wichita, Kan., graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill., in 1976. He pastored two smaller churches in Nebraska for four and five years each; then served in Wichita for 19 years from 1985 to 2004.
“The most fulfilling part of my work is teaching/preaching God’s truth as revealed in the Bible, and helping people to connect with God personally through Jesus Christ and have purpose and meaning in life with a sure confidence of eternal life with God after death,” Macy said. “Above all, I want our church and each person in it to know God for who He really is and have a passion to serve and love God with heart, soul, mind and strength. A mission statement that I developed for our church is ‘Declaring God’s Glory through the Gospel of Jesus Christ’ to the ends of the earth.”
