Associate Pastor Search Committee Announcement
From Owen Brown, chair of the Associate Pastor Search committee.
As most of you are aware, Spencer Price was our associate pastor until the spring of 2023. We really appreciated all that he provided in spiritual development to our youth and in other areas of service to our community of faith. He transitioned to another job at that time, and for the summer of 2023 we “hibernated” regarding looking for another pastor. Beginning in September the leadership table initiated a search committee, looking for a new associate pastor. First, we drafted and revised a job description. Then we advertised for an associate pastor with that specific job description starting in December.
Today we have some exciting news. We have conducted multiple interviews with two candidates, both with strong gifts and abilities. Both came up with strong marks in different categories of the questions the search committee had. This presented a difficult decision, because we liked what we saw and heard in each candidate regarding their passion for Jesus and a willingness to serve our community of faith. An idea was presented by one of the search committee members early last week that, if they were each interested in half time, we could hire them both.
We re-crafted the job descriptions and presented them to both candidates. Both candidates have affirmed their interest in this idea of half-time ministry with us at Fort George Baptist Church. Sweet!! The nominating committee would like to recommend the following 2 candidates. Nathan Trudeau, a Peace River Bible Institue graduate, attending Westside Fellowship in Prince George, is recommended to become our half time Associate Pastor of Youth, Mission and Mentorship. Brad Muller, who graduated from Canadian Mennonite University and has 9 years of pastoral experience – who you have already seen in the role of Missions Team Lead in our family of faith -- is recommended to become our half time Associate Pastor of Young Adults, Small Groups and Administration. The idea of hiring two people was not at all on our radar at the beginning of the search, but we are incredibly encouraged and excited by the way this has come about.
We believe Our Creator has been directing this process all along, it’s simply taken us as a search committee a bit of time to catch on. This brings us to today. The search committee jointly with the leadership team is introducing you to both these candidates this coming Sunday, February 18th. We will have a town hall meeting after the service with some coffee and treats, and an opportunity for both candidates to share their testimonies and introduce themselves. Following that, the membership of the church will have the task of voting to extend calls to both candidates via an online vote during the week of the 19th to 12 noon on the 23rd of February. If you would rather vote via paper, we will have that option available to you as well. More details on voting specifics will be presented next Sunday. If you’ve got any questions about this process, please contact me by phone or text at 250 552 6322 this week.