Many of you have been asking a very reasonable question about what is being done to search for a new pastor.  In truth, the Church Council and church moderator have been working behind the scenes for some months now to prepare us for a smooth transition and to find the individual who will lead us in the senior pastor role. 

The process calls for four general phases of transition between senior pastors. Listed below are the approaches for each phase of the transition.

First, is a preliminary phase of discernment during which church leaders plan and prepare their own hearts to name a Transition Team. This phase has been accomplished with the Transition Team’s first meeting scheduled for Wednesday, August 31. Team members are Chair Laurie Landes, Misti Furr (who may tag-team with Chris), Seth Price, Devin Roller, Jeremy Rowe, and Tom Woodworth, with Jim  White and Rick Kane meeting with the team as desirable or necessary.

During the second phase, the Transition Team will engage in a self study. This season of work generally requires 4-5 months of intense congregational work that results in two important documents: a Congregational Profile and a Next Pastor Profile.

During the third phase, a Pastor Search Committee is elected. Special attention will be given to creating a matrix for the purpose of forming a Search Committee that is truly representative of our church. Doing so will require identifying groups, divisions, webs of connection, theological spectrums, worship spectrums, as well as typical demographic diversity of our congregation. This phase should require approximately 4-6 weeks to complete.    

Once the congregational self-study is complete, we will be ready to engage in the fourth phase, the active search for our next pastor.

Although it may seem that this process will take a long time to accomplish, a universal leadership principle is “when I go slow, I go fast.” Taking the time necessary to seek the Lord’s direction during each phase of our transition will surely benefit us in the long run.

During these four phases, the congregation’s responsibility is critical: 1) be prayerful. Pray for our church, for the search and transition teams and for our next pastor; 2) be patient. God is at work with us even during the interim period; 3) be present.  Each of us is needed in worship because we all bring a certain amount of spiritual energy to the experience.  4) be joyful. Many wonderful things are happening in our church and in our community because of our church!