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ColesCountyDem

(6,944 posts)
Sun May 10, 2015, 06:46 PM May 2015

Pray for my church, as we call a new pastor.

As many of you will remember, my church has been engaged in the search for a new pastor since last summer. Our Pastoral Search Committee members, of which I am one, have each spent hundreds of hours in study, research, interviews and prayer in order to faithfully discharge the duty entrusted to us by our fellow congregants. We have been most ably aided by our Area Minister, Dr. Muriel Johnson, by our interim pastors, the Rev. Bill Carter and the Rev. Richard Lance, and by the wonderful staff at of the American Baptist Churches (USA) in Valley Forge PA.

It is with great hope and even greater gratitude to God for His guidance, that we will extend a call tomorrow to a wonderful man of God, a man who I will not name at this time. I will say that he is not at all who I would have envisioned us calling to our pulpit a year ago, when we began our search, but I firmly believe that he is who God means to lead our congregation into the future. He is quite young-- 32-- and will be the youngest pastor ever to lead our church in the 175 years of our existence as a congregation. For those who do not believe, it might be hard to explain, but others of you will understand me when I say that it is clear that the spirit of our Lord burns within him. We have asked God for His help and His guidance, and I believe with all my heart, my soul and mind that He has led us to this young man.

Rev. X, as I will call him for now, is an unabashed progressive; during our Skype interview with him a month ago, he candidly told us, "I must tell you this, so that there is no misunderstanding between us, either now or in the future: I see the role of church in the 21st Century as one that comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable, to borrow the words of Mary 'Mother' Jones".

Again, please pray for us.

--CCD

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Pray for my church, as we call a new pastor. (Original Post) ColesCountyDem May 2015 OP
Congratlations! He sounds like a solid choice. rug May 2015 #1
Thank you, rug! We think he is. ColesCountyDem May 2015 #2
That's impressive. I didn't realize how rigorous the process is. rug May 2015 #3
That will be the hard part. ColesCountyDem May 2015 #4
I hope they use your committee as a reference. rug May 2015 #6
We would gladly give them one. n/t ColesCountyDem May 2015 #8
Prayers ascending. hrmjustin May 2015 #5
Thank you! n/t ColesCountyDem May 2015 #7
My pleasure and feel free to repost this in the prayer circle. hrmjustin May 2015 #9
Thanks again, Justin! ColesCountyDem May 2015 #10
Any news? (nt) UrbScotty May 2015 #11
We're meeting with one of our prospects today, for lunch. ColesCountyDem May 2015 #12
 

rug

(82,333 posts)
1. Congratlations! He sounds like a solid choice.
Sun May 10, 2015, 07:44 PM
May 2015

When our pastor died suddenly three years ago, the diocese sent over a 32 year old priest. He's been quite good to all.

It sounds like your search was anything but perfunctory.

ColesCountyDem

(6,944 posts)
2. Thank you, rug! We think he is.
Sun May 10, 2015, 08:13 PM
May 2015

We started with over 100 resumes of pastors who matched our search criteria (education, ordination, Biblical knowledge, strength of preaching, pastoral skills and management ability, general fitness of character, stability of home life, good health, etc.), and we 'winnowed' the number repeatedly, until there were three left-- a 42 year-old woman from OR, a 51 year-old man from CT and a 32 year-old man from OH.

We brought all 3 to area churches as guest speakers, and then did 'meet and greets' with them afterward. In theory, that should have made our task easier, but it didn't, because all 3 are dynamic preachers and lovely people. After much prayer and soul searching, we were unanimous in our choice, much to our surprise.

 

rug

(82,333 posts)
3. That's impressive. I didn't realize how rigorous the process is.
Sun May 10, 2015, 08:23 PM
May 2015

Now, the hardest part will be telling the other two candidates.

ColesCountyDem

(6,944 posts)
4. That will be the hard part.
Sun May 10, 2015, 08:28 PM
May 2015

I think we may have made it easier, however, by letting all of them know that there were three, and only one pulpit. I wish we were large enough to need three pastors, because all three are wonderful.

ColesCountyDem

(6,944 posts)
12. We're meeting with one of our prospects today, for lunch.
Wed May 27, 2015, 09:48 AM
May 2015

She is in the area on another matter, and asked us if we would like to have lunch together and get acquainted, and we do.

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