PLATTSBURGH -- The Rev. Colin Belton and his family -- wife, Penny, and daughter Rebecca -- are acclimating to their new life at Trinity Episcopal Church and Plattsburgh.

He was chosen new rector after an in-person and two phone interviews.

"The interview process is a two-way street," he said. "The parish interviews the applicant, and the applicant interviews the parish to make sure this is where I want to be or if this would be a good fit or not."

His vision for the parish is a growth of faith among parishioners and for them to live out that faith in their daily lives. His role is that of guide or facilitator for the church leaders and the church in general.

WELCOMING PARISH

Trinity was in search of leadership.

"They would like to see growth in numbers," Belton said. "If you ask any parish that, that's the standard answer."

Trinity offers four services on Wednesday and Saturday evenings and two on Sundays.

"We have up to 100 at the 10 o'clock family service. Part of the vision is to enable the parish to be very welcoming, which it is already. It's a very welcoming parish, and we want to encourage more families, more people, to come."

His family relocated to Plattsburgh Aug. 28 from Edson, Alberta, which is halfway between Edmonton and Jasper National Park. He finds Trinity a lovely church and the recently renovated rectory, beautiful.

"The situation is rather nice here."

He also likes the landscape.

"I love mountain scenery, and that's close by. When we lived in our old house at Edson, on a very clear day we could see the Rockies 80 kilometers away. This is a very different beauty than the beauty we're used to, but it's still beautiful."

The Beltons' old house sold very quickly, a blessing in Edson considering the economic downturn that was already apparent there.

"Edson is a resource town -- natural gas, lumber and coal. Whatever happened with the downturn in the housing markets in the States affected the lumber industry in Edson. The housing market was following suit."