Rose Hill Presbyterian Church in Kirkland hired Rev. Brian North as the new senior pastor. He preached his first sermon as senior pastor on Sunday.

The position of senior pastor has been open since the retirement of Rev. Bill Zacharda in October of 2009 after 25 years. The position was filled for two years by interim Rev. Will Mason, with the help over the three years by associate pastor Rev. Doug Ranney.

The Pastor Nominating Committee presented North as the preferred candidate to the congregation, which voted to affirm the selection in September.

Pastor North, who grew up in Bellevue, has been serving as head pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church (WPC) in Chehalis since 2007. Prior to his arrival in 2007, WPC was a church that had experienced a 40 percent numerical decline (in both worship attendance and membership) over a period of eight years. Most of that decline was in families with children, and only a handful of children were in church each Sunday in early 2007.

In the last almost six years, however, North shepherded the church to a new place. The children’s ministry has grown, with more children regularly (about 30) in church on Sundays, along with their parents.

Vacation Bible School has grown from 25 children in 2006 to more than 100 each of the last two years. The first Youth Confirmation Class in seven years took place this past spring. Worship attendance was up nearly 20 percent since North arrived. In short, WPC has grown spiritually and numerically, and has become multi-generational.

North feels a strong call of the Lord to serve at Rose Hill. He is excited to get to know the people there and to see Jesus continuing to work through this community of faith. He comes to the church with his wife, Gwen, two sons and two daughters.

Rose Hill Presbyterian Church is located at 12202 N.E. 90th St., Kirkland. For information, call 425-827-4649.