TULSA, OK - It was the Sunday everyone had been waiting for. Although their beloved former pastor retired over a year ago and the search team for his replacement had been meeting since June, the 250 souls at Cherry Street Presbyterian Church were still waiting patiently for an update from the committee.

"I can tell you we all showed up at church last Sunday with an extra skip in our step," explained long-time member Gretchen Johnson. "We knew we'd be getting an update from the pulpit search committee, and we certainly weren't disappointed."

In the seven-minute PowerPoint announcement, chairman Dave Reynolds made clear that the committee was moving as quickly as possible.

"After taking the first nine months to get to know each other at our weekly meetings and bathe the process in prayer, we are ready to kick things into high gear. We anticipate that later this fall, or by the end of the year at the latest, we will be able to provide a recommendation to the elders regarding our proposed vision process guidelines. If all goes well, I think the church should be knee-deep in surveys at this time next year. We hope to make a major presentation about the state the church in the summer of 2017."

Despite the recent month of sermons from the youth pastor on "Fifty Shades of Grace," most of the congregation seemed quite content to let the committee do its work.

"The wheel wasn't reinvented in a day," quipped committee member Jerry Barnett. "We are making good progress. I think we may even have a job description to show to the session by the end of next year. We could be ready to make an update about the proposed interview process by the start of 2018. It's all very exciting."

When asked by one aging member of the congregation if he'd get to meet the new pastor "on this side of glory," Mr. Reynolds simply smiled and said, "Good things come to those who wait."