The Process Begins!

Bethanychurch   -   January 21, 2022

We have prayerfully begun the process to find our next Senior Pastor and would like to give an update. Our plan is to provide you with updates roughly once a month, though there may be times when we reach out more or less depending on what’s going on in the process. We intend to maintain clear communication with the church body as we seek to find the man that God has chosen to be our next Senior Pastor.

As you may have heard, we selected a search firm to partner with us on this journey. Here are a few questions you might have about this choice:

  • Why did we decide to use a search firm this time?
    • The Elders came to this decision through much prayer and counsel
    • We can have a broader reach of potential candidates with a firm
    • We can hopefully finish the process in a shorter time frame with a firm
  • What search firm did we select?
    • NL Moore and Associates in St. Paul
  • Why did we select NL Moore?
    • While they are professionals and have a proven process, God is at the center of all they do. They have a heart for churches and strive for long-term placement of pastors, and have specific experience with Pastor searches in the EFCA

We have also formed the Bethany search team – Tami DeLeeuw, Parker Fischer, Rick Groth, Glenna Lenardson, Dawn Palm-Leis, Colton Wagner, Melissa Weege, and Jenni Young are the lay-members who have agreed to serve, with John Schaller and Greg Chilcote heading up the search committee on behalf of the Elders.

Over the next two months, we will complete the first step in the process, which NL Moore calls “Gather Evidence”. This includes:

  1. A confidential church assessment that all regular attenders over the age of 16 will be invited to take
  2. A weekend with the NL Moore team joining the Elders and Staff for interviews and focus groups

We will share more details about the church assessment next week. Here is an overview of the plan with our target dates for each step:

  1. Gathering evidence (January-February)
  2. NL Moore creates search documents (March)
  3. NL Moore finds candidates (March-May)
  4. NL Moore presents potential candidates to Bethany Search Team and the team conducts interviews (June-July)
  5. If the Bethany Search Team selects a finalist, they will present the finalist to the Elder board for further interviews and affirmation.
  6. Following Elder confirmation, the candidate is presented to the body through a candidate weekend and congregational vote.

Most importantly, we ask that you join us in praying over this process, and that God would show us a clear direction that He wants us to follow Him. We want this process to be led by God, and we should all be seeking His will as a church body together. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions you might have.

Sincerely and prayerfully,

Bethany Senior Pastor Search Team

Tami DeLeeuw, Parker Fischer, Rick Groth, Glenna Lenardson, Dawn Palm-Leis, Colton Wagner, Melissa Weege, Jenni Young, John Schaller, and Greg Chilcote.