I am so excited about what I believe the Lord is going to do in and through our church in the years to come. And I am thankful that He has called this family to help lead us to that place of fruitful ministry.
The Winders will be on the ground before the end August. Pray for them as they search for a place to buy or rent. Pray for them as they make the difficult transition from somewhere they have been serving for a number of years. Pray for their children as they seek to get used to unfamiliar surroundings.
I want to say thank you to a number of people who made this happen. First, of course, to the Lord for His leadership and guidance. I believe He has led us step-by-step through this whole process. Secondly, our worship pastor search team. The team has done everything that was asked of them. Our church is deeply indebted to them and their prayerful work. Thank you to Ron Baughman, who has been leading our worship ministry for the past couple of years. Ron has done a stellar job under sometimes difficult circumstances. Ron has shown wisdom, leadership, faithfulness, and spiritual maturity in more ways than most of the church is aware.
Fourth, thank you to First Baptist Church. There are few ministry positions as difficult to fill as that of worship pastor. Music is such an emotional subject, and we all have our preferences. We prayed to the Lord for unity, and we asked the church to come together in this search for God's man for this hour, and the church has done so in historic fashion. I can't say I wasn't nervous at times through the process, but to stand in one of the offices and watch the ballots as they were counted and to see the overwhelmingly positive vote (99.1% with the official ballots, 99.2% if you include the unofficial absentee ballots) made me so thankful to be a part of the faith family of First Baptist Church of Heath.
If you would like to send a note of encouragement to pastor Chad, he can be contacted at PastorChad@fbcho.com.
Pastor Noel
