An update during worship

The following text was presented during all three worship services on November 4.

Good morning. My name is Tad Wisenor and I am blessed to be a part of the Pastor Nominating Committee. The twelve of us on your PNC are very different people, and represent a pretty wide swath of the congregation, from our ages and genders, to our walks of life, and even our opinions on a lot of what is happening in the church today. However, we all agree on the most important things, including that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, the Bible is the word of God, and the Holy Spirit is at work in this congregation right now. For such a time as this we have been brought together and have been serving since January of this year.

Here is what I want you to know about the Pastor Nominating Committee’s search for our next head of staff:

First, we are painfully aware that this church has been without a permanent senior pastor since June of 2010, and we are not interested in this process taking one day longer than it needs to. Our families are more excited for this journey to come to fruition than any of the rest of you in this room. Trust me on that.

We are, quite frankly, excited about our pool of candidates, and as we have read applications, listened to and watched sermons, and communicated with men and women from all over the United States and even around the world, out of more than 140 applicants, we have narrowed down the list significantly. Some incredible servant leaders have chosen to consider coming to this church, and we are humbled.

Within in the past few weeks, we have entered into the formal interview process with a small number of top candidates and are excited to begin this phase of the journey. But, we are not done looking. We continue to be in conversation with potential candidates, as we have decided to accept new Pastor Information Forms from interested parties until we enter final negotiations with our candidate-of-choice.

So, while I can’t yet tell you when we will be finished, I guarantee that it will be worth the wait.

We will be thrilled to come to you with a final candidate, and when we do, we pray you will extend her or him every measure of patience, kindness and grace that you continue to show us, your PNC. Thanks for your continued prayer on behalf of this committee, our church and our new head of staff, whoever that might be.

Several of us will be available up front after the service if you have any questions or suggestions, but try as you might, we will not give you a date for when this process will be completed. When we know, you will know. I promise.

Thank you.