5 Year Overview of Pastoral Staffing at BSBC
At the upcoming Spring Business Meeting, planned for Wednesday, June 23, the congregation will receive an update from the Next Gen Search Committee empowered to seek candidates to fill 2 new permanent positions: (1) Community Connections Pastor and (2) Next Gen Pastor.
This move followed the adoption last October of a new staffing model for BSBC that includes:
Lead Pastor
Preaching Pastor
Community Connections Pastor
Next Gen Pastor
with some additional lay leadership.
Five years ago this month, pastoral transitions began at BSBC. Our Senior Pastor completed faithful service and moved to a new ministry opportunity in Ontario. As per the Constitution, a Senior Pastor Search Committee was formed and worked for four years to identify a replacement. Within that period, our Children’s Pastor and Youth and Young Adult Pastor moved on to new opportunities for service. I’m sure you join me in giving thanks to God for the provision of servants who took up the posts that allowed ministry to continue. We were blessed by the leadership of Dr. Brian McArthur as Interim Senior Pastor; Dr. Keith Bodner, Interim Preaching Pastor; Jon Wilton served for two years as Interim Youth and Young Adult Pastor, followed by Charles Millette; Jim MacLellan continues as Seniors Visitation Pastor; Dawn McNiven, Denise Mersereau and now, Tina Franca, have headed our Children’s Ministry and, from the start, Steve Patterson became “Pastor Steve” as he joined the team in a full time capacity, showing a servant heart as he filled in various roles, culminating in his present role as Interim Pastor of Contemporary Worship and Outreach. When I review this array of faithful women and men, it speaks of God’s faithfulness to us in these five years.
With the July, 2020, appointment of Pastor Greg as Lead Pastor, a plan for permanent staffing was top priority. This lead to a Deacons’ Retreat where we prayerfully looked at our needs for the future in light of the opportunities we identified before us. We discussed and eventually agreed to this new pastoral staffing concept which was approved by the congregation at the Fall Business Meeting in October 2020. The process was launched to fill these new positions, empowering the currently serving Next Gen Search Committee to seek to fill both positions.
As with all we do, our Constitution provides direction on how we “do” life at BSBC – including the calling of permanent pastors.
Item 5.1.2
No member of the Pastoral Staff shall be called by the Church except upon recommendation of a Search Committee as hereinafter constituted.
While the Constitution provides the Board of Deacons with power to engage “interim” staff to fill the gap until an appropriate Search Committee is affirmed by vote of the congregation, as happened in October, 2020 and until they bring a candidate before the congregation for review.
Prior to that Fall Business Meeting, the Deacon’s Pastoral Relations Committee met with both Pastors Steve and Charles and shared with them the staffing plan that was to be presented to the congregation. Both were invited to apply for either position if they felt called to do so. Neither did, so, as explained to them at the time, neither were considered for either position.
I share this with you as we begin to orient ourselves to the summer and fall of 2021. Pastor Charles has shared with the BSBC family that, at the end of his contract, the end of June, he will return to his missionary calling with Sports Friends/SIM, and continue in fellowship with us as the Millette family settle in Fredericton. Pastor Steve’s contract also ends at the end of June and he, too, has decided not to renew for an extended period, but to be free to pursue new avenues of ministry. We are, and know you, too, are grateful for Pastor’s Steve servant heart and love for the BSBC family and ministry here. It has been a privilege, through these years, to have been able to support him in many ways as he worked toward ordination, culminating his Service of Ordination in the fall of 2019.
As the Next Gen Search Committee prepares to offer its report this June, we wanted you to review how our journey has brought us all to this place and to ask you to pray for Pastor Steve as he considers new opportunities of service and for Pastor Charles as he returns to his ministry. Both Steve and Charles have shown themselves to be humble and committed servants of Jesus who we know will continue Kingdom-building in the months and years ahead.
Church family, we encourage you to join us in prayer, for Pastor Steve, Pastor Charles, their families and for the Next Gen Search Committee. Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us that God has a plan. And, when we look back over five years we clearly see how faithful God is to His children. And we all move forward in that confidence.
Peace and Grace,
Pastor Greg & The Board of Deacons
