After eight years of serving as the pastor of United Methodist Church in St. Ignace, the Reverend Jim Balfour will retire June 30.

Rev. Balfour made the announcement in advance so the church could go through the process of finding a new pastor, who will likely take over the post July 1. No candidates have yet been identified for the position, he said, although the church expects to know who the new pastor will be by mid-May.

Rev. Balfour said he plans to split his time, after retirement, between his home in Harbor Springs and his wife, Mary Balfour's, family farm recently inherited in Stephenson. The next big project at the farm that has been in his wife's family for more than 100 years will be the restoration of an old barn on the property, something he said should keep him busy for a while.