On Sunday, July 1, the Rev. Jeff Childs delivered his first sermon as the new pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Auburn after the Rev. LeRoy W. Kettinger finished nine years of service.

Childs may be new to Auburn, but his first leadership role within his denomination was as an ordained deacon in 1982 in Minnesota. Three years later, he was ordained as an elder.

Since that time, he has served as the pastor of small rural, mid-sized suburban and large lake-country churches.

When his father was dying of cancer in 2002, Childs moved to New York state, where he served in churches in Wolcott and Rome before coming to Auburn.

After a month serving this community, Childs has found a committed parish to preach to each Sunday.

“I've found a congregation that's eager to get going,” Childs said. “I'm going to be preaching about the Scriptures and what Jesus is telling us we should do.”

He has his sermon topics planned through the end of August, most of which are based either on the Gospel of Luke or the Book of Galatians. His first sermon was “The Fruit of the Spirit: How Fruitful Are We?”

“I've come in with a sense of the things the church wants to do,” Childs said, “and the church seems responsive to that. I need to hear from them what their vision is. I've met with about a third of the committees, and I'll be meeting with the rest soon. A lot of pastors tend to be managers. I try to be a leader. I want to help the congregation find out what their spiritual gifts are.”

Childs used the analogy of the juggler on the Ed Sullivan Show from the 1960s who used to balance spinning plates on sticks without dropping any.

“You have to know which plates are about to crash,” he said.

The First United Methodist Church is called the “Friendly First” Church, and its mission statement is “To take Christ to people, and to bring people to Christ.” The congregation recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of its present building on the corner of South Street and Fitch Avenue in Auburn. Above the main entrance is a sign that reads “Open hearts, open doors, open minds.”

Childs hopes to build on his new church's reputation for being friendly and community-oriented by challenging the members of the congregation to increase their faith.

“Jesus is the CEO of the church, and I want to lead where he wants the church to go,” he said. “One of our Sunday themes was to invite a neighbor. We're going to do some creative things to let people know they're welcome here.”

When some churches have pastoral vacancies, they have to form a search committee and interview candidates, a process that can be lengthy or may not even be successful. In the Methodist church, vacancies are filled by the bishop of the conference, which is a region of churches. When Childs felt he had fulfilled what God wanted him to do in Rome, he asked the bishop to send him where he could use “his unique set of God-given gifts and abilities.”

Childs' wife, Robin, is a seminary graduate who is currently serving as the associate pastor of the Penn Yann Methodist Church. As a professional musician, she has recorded four albums, and she has developed a children's online ministry called the “Children's Center for the Common Good.” The Web site is www.cccgood.org.

When Childs was asked why he became a pastor by an interviewer for the church's newsletter, he answered: “It is not a choice, it is a calling. God chose me, and though it took a while to accept, I know it was the right call.”