The Rev. Larry R. Katz, right, is retiring after nearly 19 years at Grace Fellowship, now in North Codorus Township. On his last Sunday, Katz embraces the Rev. Ed Short, who is moving from a congregation in New York City to take over as Grace's senior pastor. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Kate Penn)
· York Town Square blog: Retiring Grace Fellowship leader: I'll miss the people

The Rev. Larry R. Katz has been with the evangelical Grace Fellowship for 18 1/2 years -- nearly as long as it's been an independent congregation.

Katz, 71, passed the care of his flock to his successor Sunday, urging the Christians to love their new shepherd, the Rev. Ed Short, as they have loved him.

"If you love him well, you will listen to him well, honor him well, pay him well and protect him well," said Katz, retiring as senior pastor. "As you have treated me, so treat Ed."

With that, Katz handed Short a silver baton inscribed with the date.

The two men embraced. The congregation stood. They clapped and blotted tears.

For Grace Fellowship, it was a significant changing of the guard.

Katz has led the church since a month after its founding in late 1989.

That was when 130 people split from the historic, nondenominational York Gospel Center in York Township (now Bridgeway Community Church).

In the early days, Grace members met in a West York fire hall, a banquet room at an old Howard Johnson's and two school buildings before buying land in North Codorus Township and dreaming large.

Members contributed millions to build and provide space needed for their many ministries. By 2003, attendance nearly topped 1,300 adults and children -- among the county's largest Protestant churches.

Part of Grace's draw, Katz says, is it welcomes people from all Christian backgrounds -- from charismatics to covenant theologians.

"We don't separate from people because of those beliefs," he said.

The church is doctrinally conservative, professing the inerrancy and literal truth of the Bible, salvation through a personal relationship with Jesus, a mission to share the faith and the belief that the current era on Earth will soon end and usher in the Rapture and battle of Armageddon.

Grace's current facility -- on 30 acres south of New Salem on Route 616 -- has a cavernous, 1,500-seat auditorium that echoes with a 15-piece praise band during worship.

Attendance is down slightly from five years ago. A typical Sunday crowd ranges from 1,000 to 1,200 adults and children.

Short noticed the auditorium's empty seats Sunday. They excite him, he said.

"This facility, it is a toolbox," he said. "You know who's going to be sitting in those seats? Your friends."

Members say part of their attraction to Short was his teaching style and emphasis on expanding a church by conversion, as opposed to growth by transfer - that is, people who arrive disgruntled from other congregations.

"That was an appeal to us," said Bob Wood, a church elder and a part of the pastoral search committee. "We've certainly had an evangelical focus."

Short, 50, grew up in Lebanon and graduated from Lancaster Bible College and Grace Theological Seminary in Indiana.

After a yearlong search process, the church invited him to preach in March. The vote to hire him was 747-8.

771-2024; mburke@ydr.com

HIS PROFILE

Name: The Rev. Ed Short

Age: 50

Hometown: Lebanon

Lives in: Jackson Township

Family: Wife Carol; children Laura, Katie and Marc