A new minister will be inducted into his first solo parish in Invergordon tonight – in answer to a personal letter sent to him by parishioners.
Rev Brian Macleod said he was settled as an assistant minister in Stornoway when out of the blue, Invergordon Parish Church wrote to him last year.
That began a journey that will end this evening when he will officially become their minister.
The church has been without a full time minister since the Rev KD Macleod retired in 2019.
‘I grew up in Stornoway’
The new Rev Macleod, who was a drummer and professional musician in Edinburgh before taking up the call to parish ministry, said: “I was truly enjoying my time in Stornoway as the assistant minister in Martin’s Memorial Church.
“I grew up in Stornoway, but had moved to Edinburgh to study music at Napier [University]. I met my now wife Tulita at the Christian Union at the university.”
During the father-of-two’s final year of university, he completed a dissertation on playing the drums in church worship.
Afterwards, he created a YouTube channel on the same topic, where some of his videos on drumming have been watched 100,000 times.
After being called to the ministry of the Church of Scotland and studying at New College, he was invited to take up a position back in Stornoway and took up his post during the pandemic.
“I was delighted to do so. Martin’s Memorial Church is the church I grew up in and it was wonderful to be back there with my family.”
It was not until he received a “lovely and very personal letter” from Invergordon that he considered moving with his family, including daughters Esther, six, and Lydia, four.
‘They were really encouraging’
Rev Macleod visited the church informally last October before being officially invited to apply for the vacant post.
“They were really encouraging.”
By November, Mr Maclean preached a service at Inches in Inverness and he met with church members the following day. The following month he preached at the Invergordon church as the sole nominee.
He said: “It was a unanimous vote to have me as their minister. When I took the decision to accept the invitation I knew I was contracted until 2022 so the churches have worked well together to find the right time for me to come, which is now. ”
Rev Macleod plans to work closely with the community.
He said: “I love to learn from the breadth of the kirk and I hope to work to bring new people to church, both young and old. And I am so looking forward to working with the whole community with music.
“Our welcome to the community has been so lovely, there are lots of great things in Invergordon to build upon.”
His induction will take place in Invergordon Parish Church tonight at 7pm.
