August 31, 2009

On Sunday, August 23, 2009, I provided the church with an update on the Search Committee at the morning service. Some, who were not in attendance, requested this email so that they could better understand the process. I will keep this as short as possible.

• The committee has met twice – 1st meeting to organize and 2nd meeting to meet with Lewis Miller of the Florida Baptist Convention who explained the search process and timing. Some of the things to be done BEFORE a review of resumes can commence are:
  • Identify who we are (the church body) so we can match the profile with the candidate. This will be done by a survey (all members will participate) and this process has commenced.
    Update Policy & Procedures Manual (needs to be done) to avoid confusion after the call.
    
  • Determine the criteria of the individual to be called (Pastor Profile). This is being worked on and will be guided by the survey results.
    
  • Create an information packet about the church and the community. Candidates will want to know about us just as we want to know about them. This is in process.
• On average, it takes eight to nine months AFTER the above tasks have been completed before a final call is made. This is not, and should not be, a quick process.
• The members of the committee are:
  • Myrtle Hollingsworth
    
  • Joe Saviak
  • Deborah Onderdonk
    
  • Tony Cubbedge
    
  • Matt Jones
    
  • Terressa Duggan, Secretary
    
  • Nick Athanaseas, Vice Chairman
    
  • Hugh Peters, Chairman
• How can you help?
  • Pray for the committee, the church, and for the candidates
    
  • If you have candidate suggestions, please provide the committee with a resume. The committee will not be initiating calls.
    
  • Respect the process and the committee’s efforts. Please do not speculate about what may be happening and please do not listen to rumors. The committee will communicate via email, The Grapevine, and at various member gatherings as appropriate. The minutes of the committee, once approved, will be posted on the church website.
    
  • Respect the confidential nature of the committee’s work. Asking individual members about confidential information places them in a very uncomfortable position. Remember, we will let everyone know what is going on when the timing is appropriate.
• Now that Josh Dryer has agreed to be our Interim Pastor, the sense of urgency has been tempered. The committee will push forward as quickly as possible, but will always await God’s guidance to avoid getting out ahead of His perfect timing. We are blessed to have Josh lead us during this search period.
• The committee believes that God has a candidate for us. The very fact that God called David Rice into the mission field encourages us to know that God will fill the vacancy that He created.
• We appreciate any suggestions you may have and ask that you send them to us in written form so that we can all better understand the request and/or suggestion. This search will be a somewhat lengthy process, but we are all committed to provide whatever effort is required to do the job correctly, with God providing the “Straight and Narrow path” for all of us.