Pastor Search

6/13/23 Update

In addition to spending time together in fervent prayer to identify the candidate for our next senior pastor, your Pastor Search Committee is currently serving as members of the Transitional Focus Group.  Pastor Dan is leading this group through a process of self-evaluation and assessment, in order to prepare a profile of our church, along with a profile of the ideal pastoral candidate.  While the TFG will report these findings to the church family once our duties are complete, allow us to share some initial insights gleaned from this process so that you can appreciate the work that is being done behind the scenes.

Over the past few weeks, we have affirmed that Roswell Street continues to find strength in our prayer, fellowship and worship with one another.  In addition, we have identified the need to improve in our efforts of evangelism, discipleship, and service.  The Pastor Search Team then took on the current task of creating a profile of a pastor to help guide us in the upcoming search for a specific candidate.  While Pastor Dan has every desire to expeditiously move us through the transitional process, we have encouraged him to allow us the time to better understand what lies behind what these assessments reveal.  In the end, we believe we will be better positioned to address the future needs of Roswell Street as we seek God’s man to continue to lead us forward.

As always, please continue praying for us individually, and corporately, that we might have clear direction and leading from God to move us forward in His perfect timing to His next appointed pastor for Roswell Street. 

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3/28/23 Update

As we near the Easter season, your Pastor Search Committee is continuing to work toward the goal of bringing a candidate before the church family to be considered as our next senior pastor.  Under the leadership of Pastor Dan, we are fully committed to the transitional process of preparing our church for our next senior pastor.  Recently, we have enjoyed listening to our church family recount the many experiences that led each of us to Roswell Street, that keep us engaged, that make us distinctive, and what potential barriers exist to our moving forward.  These are exciting discussions, and they are integral to the process.  We look forward to taking part in the Transitional Focus Group which will work alongside many of our other leaders to create a profile of our church and of our vision.  With that, your PST will be better equipped to recognize the man that God has already chosen to serve us in the years to come.

Your Pastor Search Committee continues to spend time in prayer over the transitional process, as well as for our combined wisdom and discernment to be unified as we move forward to hear God’s direction toward a specific individual.  We continue to seek out wise counsel from many, not only in our church, but also within our community and throughout our convention.  So, please continue lifting us up individually, and corporately, that we will walk in the steps prepared for us, at the time we are appointed to do so. 

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1/25/23 Update

We are excited to join with the church family in the transitional process along with Pastor Dan.  While our church corporately is focused on addressing ministry needs and purposes, your Pastor Search Team has the continuing, additional role of seeking specific direction regarding our next Senior Pastor.  Before we can actively seek to identify a specific person to fill the pastoral position, we believe it is necessary to go through the transitional process so that both the church and our senior pastor will be in a point of unity moving forward.

However, that does not mean that your Pastor Search Team has stopped working!  In fact, we continue to meet weekly, committed to prayer and to determine our next steps.  Since inviting Pastor Dan to fill the transitional role, we have been in specific study of the Biblical qualifications of a Senior Pastor.  Diving into 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and I Peter 5; we find over 25 qualifications set forth to guide our search.  We invite you to join with us in refreshing your knowledge of these passages, and to pray specifically for us to ensure these qualifications are fully addressed in our process.   

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1/6/23 Update

Your Pastor Search Team has committed itself in prayer, fasting, discernment, and action to move us forward in the ministry of the Kingdom through Roswell Street.  After many weeks of diligent seeking, searching, and serving; we are prepared to report to our church family regarding our next step in this transition.  We are excited to have an opportunity to share with the church family this Sunday, January 8, during the 10:30 worship service, some details of our journey and the decisions made that we are confident the Lord has blessed us to walk into in the coming days.  Please prayerfully prepare to join with us on Sunday for this update.   We look forward to seeing you there!

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12/23/22 Update

We are excited as we continue to learn more about the process and seek even more dependence upon the Holy Spirit as we seek His leading our hearts into the direction He would have us move.   As we do so, we have been meeting with various men who have capabilities to serve into the transitional time of our church.  While we are not at liberty to disclose the names and content of these conversations, we thank our church family who recognize that this is due more to sensitivity to the men, families, and ministries involved; rather than an exercise in secrecy of this process.  As a result, we look forward to sharing with you the results of our labor as soon as the Lord confirms His direction as to whom will lead us forward as our transitional pastor.  In addition, we are taking time to converse in prayer with the Lord, pleading for clarity of mind and spirit in this decision.

As we are in the celebration of Christmas season, we join in giving thanks to our Lord from whom we receive every good and perfect gift from above (James 1:17), the greatest of which began with the sending of His Son, Jesus, to live on earth in flesh and dwell among us (John 1: 14).  As you are enjoying the many gifts of this season, do not cease in your intercession for us to discern and follow His leading us as a team, as well as His guiding in your own lives as church members.  Together, we look forward to becoming the church to which our next senior pastor will be drawn by the Holy Spirit, and of which we have unity of Spirit as faithful, committed members. 

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12/12/22 Update

We have certainly been blessed in the recent weeks by the speakers filling our pulpit, expounding the Word of God.  As you have likely noticed, many of these men have served previously as a “transitional pastor,” and you may have wondered what that means.  Your Pastoral Search Team (PST) is taking time to answer that question as well, allowing these men to educate us on this role and to share from their experiences in this capacity. 

The role of Transitional Pastor is a relatively new creation, which the Georgia Baptist Convention succinctly describes this way:

The transitional pastor ministry is a guided process that prepares the congregation to receive a new pastor. The transitional pastor process is a proven path that builds unity, heals hurts, promotes fellowship, and focuses on the mission of the church.

Historically, an “interim pastor” is called upon to fill the pulpit and handle some pastoral duties while the search for a permanent replacement took place.  However, wisdom and experience have shown the benefit of having a “transitional pastor” to walk alongside the church body to assess, identify, and address issues prior to the calling of a new pastor. 

Please join with us in praying through the decision as to how to proceed in this interim or transitional time.  Please pray specifically for the man that God has chosen to serve our church in whichever capacity is best suited to our current and future needs.  We continue to seek each members’ personal engagement in the process of becoming the church that our future pastor will be seeking to join in to lead.  May the Lord be glorified in how He leads your PST and our church family in these exciting days!

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12/5/22 Update

As we look to 2023, your PASTOR SEARCH TEAM (PST) is tasked with seeking out speakers to fill the pulpit each week.  In doing so, we are searching both for men who have previously served in an interim pastor role, and may be considered to serve into our interim needs; as well as for others who may speak into the needs of RSBC, without any desire to fill the interim pastoral role.  That review is ongoing, and we established a process of ensuring we can provide the proper welcome for them as they visit with us.  In carrying that out, we will provide you the opportunity to see individual members of the PST each week, in hopes of reminding the church family who is serving in this capacity, and to put a face with a name in your prayers for us.

In addition, we devoted some time to thinking through and sharing various commitments that each team member must make, both for the team success, as well as for the benefit of the church family.  Among items on that list were:

• Seeking to do God’s will, in God’s way, and for God’s purpose
• Praying intentionally for one another
• Continually being honest, transparent, and patient
• Seeking to be expedient and efficient
• Expecting to be challenged, and have a teachable spirit.

There are many more items which we discussed and others you might add to this list.  As those come to mind, take a moment to ponder how you can commit to that in your own life and how you can intercede on behalf of the PST in that area.  We continue to relish your prayers, support, and encouragement.

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11/29/22 Update

Your PASTOR SEARCH TEAM (PST) invited the Advisory Council (AC) members to share their insight as to multiple areas:

• the state of RSBC overall vision, financial status, day-to-day operations, and potential direction as to interim pastoral role.
• the relatively new role of a transitional pastor, as compared to the traditional interim pastor role.
• Sharing our thanks to the AC and staff for its outstanding work in having already obtained pulpit supply in place through the end of 2022, and
• the PST accepted the responsibility of pulpit supply going forward.

As we go forward, our church family is encouraged to be actively present and attentive each Sunday as we invite multiple speakers to fill the pulpit.  We look forward to their bringing a Word from the Lord  to us in this time of transition, with an eye toward potentially filling the role of transitional pastor while we continue our search for a lead pastor for the future of RSBC. 

Join in with us in  prayer for . . .

• Clear messages to encourage and equip RSBC in the interim,
• Clear direction as to how one of these men may lead us in the interim,
• Clear leading from the Lord as to whom we should invite to fill the pulpit
• Clearly identifying who we should recommend to the church family to serve as an interim leader of our church family and staff.

As we enter the Advent season, we are reminded of Israel’s reliance upon multiple prophecies as they expectantly awaited the coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 7:13-14; 9:1,6-7; 11:1-5; Micah 5:2).  Similarly, while we are in a time of transition, our church family maintains confident HOPE of God’s eternal plan and purpose continuing to be worked out through us.  In return, we offer ourselves as a people individually committed to living out our Christian faith daily and corporately engaged in the fulfilling of God’s Great Commandment and Great Commission.

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11/21/2022 Update

As we begin our service as your PASTOR SEARCH TEAM, we are thankful for your commitment to JOIN IN the process of identifying the pastor-shepherd for our church both in the interim and in the long term.  To do that, we ask for two things from our church family :

• INTERCEDE with us and for us in prayer for unity of Spirit and clarity of direction as we hear from, review, meet with, and make decisions as to an interim pastor and ultimately a senior pastor. We would welcome your praying for a particular team member by name and sending encouragement to them personally as you are led to do so.

ENTIRE TEAM – rsbcpst@gmail.com

Noemi Caro – noemicaro91@gmail.com

Kerry Jackson – kbj@bellsouth.net

Bill Kelley – fwkelley3@att.net

Susan Lyle – sdlyle333@gmail.com

Bryan Lumpkin – tbryanlumpkin@gmail.com

Dawn McElhaney – utk9091@aol.com

Russell Palmer – russellpalmer@bellsouth.net

Sandra Sommerman – sandrahs@comcast.net

Mitch Walker – mitchythekid10@gmail.com

• ENGAGE individually to seek the Lord’s direction in your own life to live out your Christian faith in your everyday life and in the life of your church. If we are individually subject to living out Christ’s life daily, then we will anticipate 1 Corinthians 1:10 being exhibited –  “that there be no divisions among [us], but that [we] be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

Among our initial actions, we selected the following persons to serve in particular structural roles as a church committee :

• Chairman : Bryan Lumpkin
• Vice-Chairman : Bill Kelley
• Scribe : Dawn McElhaney

In addition, and more importantly, we have identified several other roles to be accomplished by individual members, connected with each members’ particular gifting, talents, and experience.  Together, we look forward to working in tandem to address the many tasks before us.  To that end, we cannot ask too often for your continued prayer support for us as we serve you in this vital responsibility.