One Pastor's Perspective

These past few months have been tough.  Tough for Ebenezer.  Tough for the staff.  When God called Justin away, a huge void was felt not only in our church but also in our staff family.

We really are like a family.  When one of us hurts, we all hurt.  When one of us celebrates, we all share.  I guess you might say we are more than a team.  Justin was a big part of that team, and he IS loved.  And the lack of his presence was felt for sure.

The process to find a new minister in the Southern Baptist church is difficult.  Unique.  We don’t have a bishop or overseer that could merely assign a new staff person.  We kind of act as independent entities, have to search, evaluate, and find on our own.  That is exactly what Personnel has done since October.  The pool of candidates was whittled down from over 100 eventually to one.  Unlike the business world, if you are trusting God in the search, you approach candidates one at a time.  After an initial interview, that is what we did with Nathan Neighbors.

Nathan was born in Columbia but grew up in Florence.  Graduated from South Florence High School.  After college he married his high school sweetheart, Ashley (Ellis), and they headed to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  And they have been serving God faithfully since…

One of the my favorite things about this part of the process was how Nathan seemed to fit right in with Ebenezer.  With our church staff.  The first time I met him face to face, it was as if I had known him for years.  Honestly, I kept my feelings close to the vest to see where Personnel would land.  Eventually, they felt the same thing!  We all knew that this was the man.  But we had to continue working the process until all of the stars aligned.

I am thankful that everything aligned, and Nathan is already at work (so to speak).  Of course, he will work an appropriate notice at his current church and will then be on the field with us towards the end of May.  I am excited to see all that he brings to this vital ministry at EBC.

And, when I say “Welcome home!!” to he and Ashley, it means more than welcome to Florence!  I am thankful that Ebenezer is their new home!  I am thankful that they are already part of the family!!

If you do not trust God, you WILL NOT trust each other.

One of the biggest obstacles for any church is a lack of faith.  A lack of trust in what God is doing.  A doubt of that to which God has called the church to do.  And when the church does not trust God, it will not trust each other.

I’ll confess this to you:  When I see this at Ebenezer (or in any church), it really breaks my heart.  The basic mistrust.  The conspiracy theories.  Then, when you add in the concept that teams like Personnel has to operate in a somewhat-confidential manner, it makes suspicions abound even more.  For no reason.  (Thanks to the legal climate of our modern society, Personnel HAS to operate in silence for most of their job.  It keeps the church from being sued, so this is a good thing!!)

I could write and write about this topic, but to cut to the chase:  We NEED to trust God.  We NEED to trust each other.  Otherwise, we will never see the full potential God has planned for our church OR for each of us as individuals.  Period.

The Next Step from Ebenezer BC on Vimeo.

On the Same Day from Ebenezer BC on Vimeo.

Triumph from Ebenezer BC on Vimeo.

Go from Ebenezer BC on Vimeo.

Yes, a question many have asked.  I will tell you it is NOT to present a candidate for youth minister, although we are getting close to that (I think)…  But it IS related to that!!

In our search (and research) for finding the next youth pastor, we have found that Ebenezer has NOT done a good job of paying our youth minister…  Yes, with Justin we had a Cadillac but were paying him like he was a Ford Pinto.  NOT GOOD.  After confirming this fact through multiple sources (including the South Carolina Baptist Convention), we need to make some adjustments in order to find the right one!!!

Personnel went to Finance, and they agreed whole-heartedly … and THEN they found the money.  Money that was allocated for a van payment that was FINISHED in December of 2012!!!  So, the money we need to make this adjustment IS ALREADY IN THE BUDGET!!  We can make this adjustment without any impact to our weekly need!!  Isn’t it neat how God works these things out even before we realize we need them!!!

Soo … I know I haven’t answered all of the questions.  If you have any more, ask the Personnel Team:  Danny Parker, Danny Counts, Keith Pettigrew, Jumana Swindler (AKA “Ousier”), Kay Andrews, and Trudy Carter.  And be there on Sunday MORNING!!!

Making Disciples from Ebenezer BC on Vimeo.