Staff Update
We are just about ready to announce some very good news about the Student Pastor position at JIBC. We went through dozens of resumes and had a few interviews. We worked with our Finance Team to come up with a new approach to this position. It appeared that we were stuck looking for a “part-time” Student Pastor. That was basically the salary we had to offer. That was a very difficult assignment. The decision was made to offer a full time salary and that seemed to open the door for a wonderful conversation. All along, I was sad about Frankie Gilmore not being able to stay on board with us. So…here is the wonderful announcement. FRANKIE IS BACK! We have not finalized all the details, but we do believe we were able to present a salary package that made it possible for Frankie to re-join our staff. I am very pleased. The students love Frankie, the parents trust him and I think he is a quick study and learns quickly. He is surely the kind of person I would want leading and mentoring my grandson! We will most likely have the details ready for official celebration this next week. Now the next addition to our staff: We have been in conversation with a prospective staff member for quite a few months now. Janie and I flew out to visit him at his current church and we have brought him here to meet some of our leaders. In the old days we would have called this staff position an “Educational Director”. More currently they are called “Associate Pastor”. Some larger churches will call them the Executive Pastor. I think for our purposes, we will work with the title Associate Pastor just to make things easier. We will probably switch to something a little more 21st Century like Pastor of Discipleship and Ministries. Enough about the title. Sometime in January, we will start getting you information about the person and the position. He, his wife and one of their children will be here on the weekend of February 15-17. He will preach, have a meet and greet, talk strategies, answer questions and ask questions. I really like this prospective staff person. He and his wife are easy to talk to and quite easy to get to know. Even though he currently lives on the west coast, he is from Union, South Carolina. I am looking forward to their coming to visit.
Both of these positions were the main part of the budget increase this year. It is my prayer that God will continue to bless and a year from now, we will be writing about how God has blessed with such a wonderful staff! Again, to God be the glory!
See you soon, Pastor Tom
