NORTH WASHINGTON — The Rev. Robert Edmundson will be formally installed as pastor of North Washington Presbyterian Church, 714 Fairview Road, and Concord Hooker Presbyterian Church, 625 Hooker Road, West Sunbury, at a 3 p.m. Sunday ceremony at the Concord Hooker Church.

Edmundson was hired in January after the two congregations had gone without a permanent pastor for more than two years.

“They share me. It's a 60/40 split. I am still feeling my way. This is my first time with a multiple charge,” said Edmundson

“The two churches have been yoked. It's a yoked parish. These two churches have been together since 1960,” he said.

The weekly attendance at Concord Hooker is 75 congregants, while the North Washington church sees 35 to 50 at its services., Edmundson said.

He conducts a 9:30 a.m. Sunday service at North Washington and an 11 a.m. one at Concord Hooker.

He is at Concord Hooker Mondays and Thursdays and at North Washington Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

During the summer, the congregations will unite for one Sunday service in alternating churches.

He started at the churches on Jan. 1.

Edmundson said the installation ceremony will be attended by past pastors and interim pastors who served the North Washington and Concord Hooker churches.

“The Moderator of the Presbytery will be asking me questions. People from both congregations will be involved in the service also,” said Edmundson.

He and his wife, Charlotte, live in the church manse on Hooker Road. “Isn't that a great place for a pastor to live?” he said.

“I was in Brogue, Pennsylvania, in York County. I was nine miles from the Susquehanna River,” he said of his previous posting. He had been there for 14 years when the Edmundsons decided to move to Western Pennsylvania to be closer to their daughter and son-in-law, Nathan and Elizabeth Stewart of Butler and their 4-year-old grandson, Nathan.

Edmundson, 63, grew up in West Middlesex in Mercer County. He attended Grove City College and graduated in 1976 with a bachelor's degree in religion and psychology.

He graduated from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., in 1980.

He served three congregations in Pennsylvania before coming to Concord Hooker/North Washington.

Alan Adams, the executive presbyter of the Beaver-Butler Presbytery of Zelienople which oversees 63 churches in two counties, said Edmundson came with high marks from his former presbytery.

Adams added, “He's been through our process. You have to be approved to enter our presbytery. He has been before the committee on ministry.”

“He's come before the floor of the presbytery,” said Adams referring to the bimonthly meeting of all the churches in the presbytery.

Bruce Groom of Washington Township, a member of North Washington church and the search committee. said the searchers went through 200 to 300 names in nearly three years before fixing on Edmundson.

“The more we talked with him, the more we liked him,” said Groom.

“He's just a very down-to-earth person. He educates us as he gives his sermons,” Groom said.

Edmundson said he has been impressed, too.

“The people here are great, loving people. They are excited to have a pastor. They haven't had one for two and a half years,” he said. “It's hard to get people to come to the country, but I've always had a calling for rural ministry.”

Edmundson said he plans to depart from the liturgical script.

While the Presbyterian Church has a three-year rotation of Scripture lessons that cover most of the Bible that can be used for sermon topics, Edmundson said, “I'm getting away from that. I've preached it through 13 times. As I'm getting older, I'm going to be doing one book at a time. “

“My plan is to go to the Book of Romans. Find out who Jesus is first and then find out your faith's work,” he said.

He said his plans for the churches are simple.

“Just to grow the churches, that's my big plan, get them going and minister to more people, getting them excited about Jesus Christ,” Edmundson said.

Success is when you show people “that you care and are willing to become part of peoples' lives,” he said.

“The other thing that I would bring is a sense of humor. Too many pastors are baptized in pickle juice,” he said

Edmundson said he likes to swim, ride his bicycle and keep up with his grandson, Henry, to keep active.