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May 5, 2010
First, thank you church for your patience and
prayerful support of your Pastor Search Committee.
We have continued to meet almost every week. We have
reached a point where we have narrowed our list to a
few individuals.
The committee will bring these individuals to Waco
during the next several weeks to interview with the
committee as a whole. Pray for wisdom and
discernment for these interviews.
Please continue to understand and help us respect
the privacy of these folks and to help them maintain
the integrity where they currently serve and
minister.
Continue to pray for our church, the Pastor Search
Committee and for the one that God will choose for
our next pastor and that it may be soon.
February 15, 2010
It was almost a year ago
that our pastor search committee began meeting.
During that time, we have reviewed dozens of resumes
referred to us by church members and others who are
active in Baptist life, as well as those given to us
by candidates themselves. In addition to reviewing
resumes, we have also watched dozens of sermons and
attempted to paint a portrait of each of the
candidates that will allow us to determine who would
be a good fit for FBC Waco. As you are aware,
November 30th was the last date we
accepted new applications.
We now have around 15
candidates that we have decided we would like to
examine closer. Our plan is to begin sending out
teams of two or three individuals to attend worship
services of the 15 candidates. These visits will
allow us to not only see how each pastor preaches,
but also give us an idea about pastoral abilities;
details that are not usually possible to gather from
a DVD. It is our hope that through this process we
will be able to further narrow the field.
While we are unable
to disclose at this time the names of the candidates
we are examining, we invite our fellow church
members to help us maintain the confidentiality of
each of these candidates. All of the candidates we
are examining are doing God's work and we do not
want gossip surrounding this search process to
destroy their ministries. If you hear comments
about our search process that you feel may be less
than factual, then please feel free to contact
anyone on our committee for clarification. Our
desire is to be as open as we can without
endangering the current employment of our
candidates.
We appreciate your
continued prayer and support as we seek the desires
of God through this pastoral search process.
Sincerely yours,
The Pastor Search Committee
November 22, 2009
Our pastor search committee last reported to you in
late September, so we wanted to give an update on
our recent work.
Since September, we have contacted several more
people significant in Baptist life and who know our
church and have received recommendations of possible
candidates from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas,
Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.
We know that some of you have previously served on
pastor search committees in this church or for some
other congregation. You’ll remember frequent trips
to hear proposed candidates. That time will come
for us later in our process when we’ve narrowed our
field of potential candidates. We will want to hear
those on our short list first-hand before making any
recommendation about a new pastor. Until then, we
have been utilizing the technology available to
us...the internet, DVD’s and CD’s.
We have gathered resumes and watched close to thirty
worship videos as a committee. We have met almost
every Wednesday night since September with the
exception of the neighborhood Pumpkin Patch party
when many of our committee were working at some
booth.
For practicality reasons, our committee has come to
realize that we cannot leave the intake process of
receiving new names open-ended forever or we would
never be able to finish our work. Thus, we’ve set
the date of November 30th as the deadline for
accepting new applications.
We want you to know that we appreciate all of the
recommendations we have received from members of
this congregation and are giving serious
consideration to ever name you have suggested. As
you can imagine, it is a time-consuming endeavor.
We still have some suggested candidates that we have
not yet heard, but we are whittling down the list
week by week.
We hope many of you will participate in a prayer
meeting specifically praying for our committee on
December 6, 2009, sponsored by the Adult III Sunday
School department.
Like you, we recognize how blessed we are, during
this interim time in the life of First Baptist, to
have the services of Dr. Harbour and Dr. Perry.
Many of you have said to us, “These are special days
and special men who are helping our church use this
time for growth and renewed vibrancy. Don’t be in a
rush.”
We are not rushing, but we are diligently working
week after week. We can promise you that we are
seeking God’s wisdom and guidance as we work to
discern His will in this pastor search. Please pray
for us as we continue to try to fulfill the task
with which we have been charged.
September 29, 2009
The Pastor Search Committee would like to offer our
sincere thanks to one of our church home groups for
organizing and leading a time of prayer Sunday night
for our pastor-to-be, our church and our committee.
The Holy Spirit moved among us, sharing hope,
encouragement and patience with committee members
and church members alike. The circles of prayer
allowed participants to say what was on their hearts
and to hear the longings of the hearts of others.
As a committee, we lean on our Lord and depend on
the prayers of our congregation. We remain faithful
and encouraged in the love and support of our church
and in the awesome leadership of God. He will
provide.
In His care,
Pastor Search Committee
The
following is a guide from our recent prayer time:
Welcome and
Opening
Prayer
Matthew
18:18-20
I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth
will be bound in heaven, and whatever you
loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I
tell you that if two of you on earth agree about
anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my
Father in heaven. For where two or three come
together in my name, there am I with them.
Prayer For
Our Future Pastor
Ephesians 4:11-13
It
was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be
prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be
pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for
works of service, so that the body of Christ may be
built up until we all reach unity in the faith and
in the knowledge of the Son of God and become
mature, attaining to the whole measure of the
fullness of Christ.
-Pray that God prepares the heart of the pastor and
family
-Pray that the pastor is responsive to God’s call
-Pray that God will provide the new pastor with
strength and wisdom
Prayer
For Our Search Committee
Ephesians
4:1-6
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live
a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be
completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing
with one another in love. Make every effort to keep
the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were
called to one hope when you were called— one Lord,
one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.
-Pray
that the Holy Spirit will be visibly present at each
meeting
-Pray that the Holy Spirit will work in each Pastor
Search Committee member
-Pray that each member has discernment and patience
throughout the selection process
Prayer for
Our Church
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Love is
patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not
boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no
record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but
rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always
trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never
fails.
-Pray for unity and love within the community of
faith
-Pray that our church will continue actively
engaging in God’s work by supporting current and
future ministries
-Pray for the strength of our ministerial staff
-Pray that God will prepare the hearts of the church
family for our future pastor
Closing
Prayer and Song
“What A Friend We Have In Jesus”
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and
griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in
prayer!
What peace we often forfeit, what needless pain we
bear,
all because we do not carry everything to God in
prayer.
August 5,
2009
Dear
Church Family:
Perhaps
many of you were in Sunday School the last few weeks
when our Search Committee came asking for your
prayer support as we seek:
1)
unity of spirit in becoming the church God
wants us to be;
2)
discernment for our committee as we strive to
work through the process of reading resumes,
listening to sermons, and interviewing potential
candidates;
3)
and God’s preparation of the heart of our
pastor-to-be and family to love the idea of
ministering with our congregation in this place.
We need
the undergirding of your prayers as we search for
the pastor God desires for our church!
We
recently met for two hours with a minister from a
downtown church who happened to be on the Baylor
campus for a seminar at Truett Seminary. He came to
his present position four years ago, and from his
description, the situation there sounded much like
our present one. His encouragement and
“heart-sharing” resonated deeply with our committee
members and we wanted to share some of his insights
with you:
1) We are situated between the wealth of
Baylor and the poverty of our surrounding
neighborhood. Are we willing to encompass both
ministry areas in our hopes for the future of FBC
Waco?
2) One of the most toxic statements a
church member can make begins, “I remember when. . .
.” We should treasure and celebrate our history and
heritage but look to the future. Embrace the “now”
and be willing to participate in change! (We
should be willing to change in our own areas of
influence rather than merely expecting the change to
occur in someone else’s.)
3) Will we minister TO people or WITH
people? The self-satisfaction gained by the giver
when we minister TO people may well be at the
expense of the self-worth of the recipient. We
should embrace all of God’s people as we seek to
minister together.
4) There is too much work to be done to
have people serve only from obligation (or committee
assignment). Think about ministry teams
where people can serve in an area in which they feel
a true passion. It will transform attitudes about
church service.
5) When is the last time that, as a
congregation, we laughed together? Remember
to enjoy each other’s company as brothers and
sisters in Christ.
6) We should take time to find a pastor
who will fall in love with our congregation, who has
a vision for FBC Waco, and who is open to the
Lord’s leadership for what can be accomplished
within and through this congregation. Be willing
and ready to be led.
We hope
these ideas challenge your hearts as they did ours.
Please pray with us as we continue to
seek God’s guidance in search of our next pastor!
Friday,
May 29, 2009
First Baptist Church of Waco, Texas, is seeking a
young, yet established and effective preacher, who
is spiritual and evangelistic, with strong
leadership traits, filled with friendly enthusiasm,
and gifted with a vision for what First Baptist
Church can be through Christ.
The Pastor Search Committee is very appreciative of
the information we received from the church-wide
survey. The top priorities expressed by the
congregation are:
Desired Traits in our Pastor:
·
Effective Preacher
·
Strong Interpersonal Skills
·
Strong Leadership Skills
Vision of Our New Pastor’s Workload:
·
Preparation for Sermons
·
Pastoral Ministry to Church Members
·
Supervising and Mentoring Staff
Ministry Areas that Need Immediate Attention from
Our New Pastor:
·
Ministry to Young Families
·
Membership and Attendance Growth
·
Worship Style Enhancement
Rest assured that your committee has prayerfully
begun to evaluate a number of candidates as we seek
to find the pastor God has chosen to lead our church
forward. Many thanks for your input, both during the
survey stage and as we continue to receive excellent
pastoral candidate recommendations from church
members. We covet your prayers as we work together
to serve God and His church in this important search
process.
Friday, April 24, 2009
How grateful we, as the Pastor Search Committee, are
to the 228 of you who took the opportunity to share
your heart with us on the recent congregational
survey.
We are delighted at the consensus that is emerging
from your answers regarding the attributes that our
next pastor should possess, the division of
workload, and the ministry focus which will flow
from that.
We are beginning the process of seeking names of
potential candidates from within our congregation
and from the larger Baptist family.
Please be patient with us as our research
processes. Our church is blessed to be thriving
under the leadership of
Brian
Harbour and Randall Perry during these interim
months. Our committee members are approaching the
search for our next pastor methodically and
carefully, knowing that we must diligently seek to
discern the individual God has in mind for our
church. Please continue to pray for us as we do our
work.
Wednesday, March 20, 2009
Welcome to the Pastor Search Committee Updates Page.
Currently, we are asking all members to turn in the
Pastor Search Committee Survey by March 29th. |
