Near the end of the major league season, I read an interesting article about umpires who are tasked with making “the right call.” When veteran umpires were interviewed, they talked about their focus on making the right call, while everyone of them admitted that they have at times made the wrong call. They went on to say that you cannot let the fear of making a wrong call keep you from calling it as you see it. While some fans become critical of umpires when they miss a call, the remarkable thing to me is that umpires make the right call most of the time.
The process that a Baptist church uses to call a staff member is also intriguing to me. We are tasked as leadership, search team, and congregation with making the right call. Across the years when calling staff, our First Baptist Family has made a lot of right calls.
This past week, we celebrated the good ministry of Brad Gowing who has served as our Minister of Students for the past 3 ½ years. While we are sad to see Brad and Maile leave us, we are grateful for Brad’s ministry and we are excited for the Gowings as they follow God’s call to Birmingham
Now we are beginning the search for our next Student Minister. Because I believe that Brad was sincerely being led by the Lord to this ministry opportunity in Alabama FBCP , we have called 3 new staff ministers…Don, Ross, and Brad…and all three have been “the right call.” Recently we called Laura Harrison as our interim Minister of Children, and that is proving to be “the right call.”
Here are a few things you need to know about our process that will lead us to make the right call for our next Student Minister:
Who will be serving on the Student Ministry Search Team? Maddie Dempsey, Tripp Hill, Leslie Hutcherson, Janet Strange, Luther Taylor, and Robert Turnage. (Allen Turner, Don Minton, and Barry Howard are ex-officio members)
How will the process progress? Once the Search Team has identified and chosen a candidate that best fits our opportunity at FBCP , they will present that candidate to the Personnel Committee and Administrative Council for endorsement. Once a candidate is affirmed by all three of these leadership groups, the candidate will be introduced to our congregation on a Wednesday evening. The candidate will share a testimony and then be interviewed by me and some of our students regarding issues that are relevant to life and ministry. Afterward our congregation will vote on whether to call this candidate to join our staff team.
How long will this process take? A staff search can take anywhere from a few months to a year or more. Our intention is to make this an expedient search. I am hopeful that we will have a candidate ready to begin within a two month time frame. However, we will take as much time as we need to make “the right call.” My philosophy is that it is better to be patient than to call the wrong person by moving too quickly.
Who will provide interim leadership until a new Student Minister begins? An interim leadership has been formed to oversee the events and activities related to Student Ministry . The members include John Robert Hill, Garrett Hodges, Debbie Norris, Nicole Strange, Charlie Wert, and John Wise . Don Minton will serve as the primary adviser to this group and Barbara Burks will play an instrumental role as the ministry assistant for Student Ministries.
What do we need from our members during the interim season? We need to be praying for the search team and the call process. And we need to be praying for our students and their leaders as they continue their discipleship journey during the interim weeks.
What do we need from our students and their families during the interim season? My observation has been that during an interim time, individuals tend to either sit on the sidelines waiting for the next minister, or they upgrade their participation and continue to grow during the interim time. To me, sitting on the sidelines is just unthinkable. Because Brad has planted good seeds for the future, I fully expect that our students, their leaders, and their families will bring out the best in each other and strengthen the spirit of community.
At FBC Pensacola, we are blessed to have an extraordinary group of students and student leaders. I am excited about the future. And together we will make “the right call” of a new student minister.
This Sunday we are exploring “Unsearchable Things” as we look at Jeremiah 33:1-11 and probe some tough questions about our faith in God. We will also be participating in the Lord’s Supper in each of our services. In the afternoon, our deacons will be sharing communion with many of our homebound members.
I consider it a privilege to learn and grow alongside you as your pastor, and I look forward to seeing you this Sunday in worship and Bible study.
