From the beginning of this process, the search team has had a very clear mandate from the elder board, and ultimately from the Lord: To discern who GOD IS CALLING as our next lead pastor at Springbrook. Our personal opinions, the varied opinions of congregants, and preferences in general all are secondary to our commitment to seeking the Lord’s will. In order to actively listen for God’s leading, our congregation has prayed as individuals/families, in small groups, as a search team, as well as corporately through the prayer gatherings and during Sunday services.
Many have fasted and prayed, and others have chosen to commit to daily or weekly prayer. The search team would ask that we all recommit ourselves, first and foremost, to seeking what God has for us. May we be a church that is marked by dependence on the Holy Spirit, commitment to God’s work in the world, and joyful submission to His perfect and holy will.
Toward that end, the search team is actively listening and looking for God’s leading – we are seeking His fingerprints, His wisdom, His will, and His confirmation of what we think we see and hear from Him. We will not make any decisions until we are unified in certainty that we are walking forward in what God has called us to do.
After receiving feedback from several of you, we would like to clarify and update the information shared in last week’s email:
- To date, twelve interviews have now been conducted.
- Some of these interviews were conducted by the whole team and some were conducted by groups of 2-3 search team members.
- These interviews all gave data regarding our internal candidates.
- Some interviews were with the candidates themselves, whereas others were with co-workers and spouses.
We are now nearing the end of Phase Two of the search process. Throughout all phases, we have and will continue to pray for our internal candidates and their families by name, as well as for our body. Below is a brief outline of what has already been completed and what the process will be as we move forward:
- Phase One: Gathered and reviewed internal candidate data including the Ministry Match Assessment and application documents.
- Phase Two: Evaluated candidate preaching and conducted interviews of co-workers, spouses, and candidates.
- Wait on the Holy Spirit to Provide Clarity: Has God called one of our internal candidates to be the lead pastor, or is He leading us to look outside of our body for the man He has called? This is where we are right now. The team will continue to meet weekly, using the gifts God’s given us, a variety of search process resources, and most importantly prayer to actively discern God’s will, become increasingly indifferent to anything except His will, and wait until He provides us with both clarity and unity in how we should proceed.
- Phase Three: If God has called an internal candidate, Phase Three will include an extensive period of sharing with the congregation how God led the search team to this conclusion. After that, members will vote to affirm or deny the validity of the search team’s decision.
- Phase Three: If God has not called an internal candidate (whether made known by the search team’s decision or by the membership vote), Phase Three will include an extensive period of developing materials to advertise the position to external candidates, filtering external applicants, and conducting background searches and interviews regarding the external candidates in order to discern the man God is calling as our next lead pastor.