PASTOR SEARCH COMMITTEE UPDATE, JULY 2016

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PASTOR SEARCH COMMITTEE UPDATE, JULY 2016

Dear Church Family,
Please join me in saying thank you to the dynamic eight individuals of our Pastor Search Committee (PSC) who have never ceased to amaze me with their dedication and sacrifices each and every day. Just consider our fifteenth meeting this past Sunday. The meeting began at 6:00PM and ended after 10:00PM; in fact we had to leave in order not to trigger the alarm system. And yet by the morning on Monday, two additional assignments were completed overnight and forwarded to my attention. I am thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to serve with these individuals and First Baptist Church is blessed to have such a dedicated group of people.

Thank you also for your prayer support as we continue to work through the minute details necessary to present our Church to the broader community of faith. As I have previously indicated, we have been working to complete Phase 1 (or the Preparation Phase) of the pastor search process. If you remember, this phase required two major components; the Pastor Profile which paints a picture of the characteristics that define our next Senior Pastor and the Church Profile which describes to the community what First Baptist Church, Tallahassee does and what we have been engaged in this past 167 years. With your help, and led by Kim Vickery and members of the Pastor Profile subcommittee, we have completed the Pastor Profile earlier. Today, I am very pleased to announce that with the help of our Church Staff, committee chairs, and countless hours of investment from Tom Perrin, Jr and our Church Profile subcommittee members, we have completed the Church Profile document. Our dual digital guys, Stuart Pearce and Jeff Latimer are now prettying up the document and we will have it on our website for your information before long. Thank you, James Craig for your willingness to step in and help at a moment’s notice. And now that we have completed the major components of Phase 1 of the pastor search process, here are some of the steps we will be embarking on in Phase 2, or the Search and Discernment phase.

  1. With the help of Richard Tudor, Donna Callaway, and Tina Mason we have identified over 40 sites where we intend to advertise the senior pastor position. We also intend to send letters to various seminaries and conventions announcing the vacancy by week’s end.
  2. Advertisement of the position and invitation for referrals will begin this Friday, July 15, 2016. We will share the advertisement with you either in the FBCTLH newsletter or you could find it on the FBCTLH PSC website page. Please, feel free to share it with friends and family across the nation. All the earlier referrals or applications submitted are safe in our care but feel free to resend them if you so desire. We anticipate response to our advertisement will begin fairly quickly and we plan the review of applications beginning August 15, 2016.
  3. We recognize the major responsibility you have given us as members of this Pastor Search Committee but we also recognize we are imperfect and flawed people desiring to do the will of God. As a result of this understanding, we have planned a special PSC Prayer retreat for August 13, 2016 in preparation to begin reviewing the applications from prospective candidates or referrals from well-wishers. At the prayer retreat, we will be in prayer:
    1. Presenting ourselves anew to the Lord to prepare us to receive the applications and to begin processing them.
    2. That the Lord will grant us the mind of Christ who will empower us with discernment to fairly consider all applications and make the right decision about each.
    3. That this retreat will grant us the unique opportunity to prayerfully consider your comments and suggestions and how they can be used to further kingdom work. There is so much to present to the Lord based on over 300 comments we received during our Pastor Profile survey and I pray we have the wisdom to evaluate and use them appropriately.
    4. Please, pray that the Church will be united in our desire to begin a new chapter in FBCTLH with the coming of the next senior pastor. I can’t wait to see the mighty work the Lord has in store for FBCTLH.
    5. Finally, as we gather together on August 13 and as we pray from 1 – 6PM that day, please pray the Lord to show us His will as we depend on Him for the path to the man he has selected for us.

Thank you once again and please know that we appreciate your encouragement and your support. Be mightily blessed.

~Seth Y. Ablordeppey and Your Pastor Search Committee.