As many of you know, Matt Rollins, our Minister of Community Engagement, has accepted a position with Village Engage. Matt’s last day in the office was January 15. We are grateful for his years of service and dedication and look forward to what this next chapter holds for him. We will recognize Matt during worship on Sunday, February 8. While we will miss Matt’s daily presence, we remain committed to caring for our neighbors. I know you are wondering what our interim and long-term plans are. Over the past couple of weeks, I have met with our Missions Committee, Partnership and Affiliations Committee, the local relief team, the HoSEA team, and other lay leaders to ensure continuity of our community ministries. We are blessed to have strong lay leadership, and because of this, many of our ministries require minimal ministerial staff support. Mission Backpack, our monthly collections, and our Project Host Soup Kitchen commitment will continue to operate as usual, facilitated by our dedicated and capable lay leaders. Due to the scope, complexity, or timing of some of our other ministries, they require more ministerial staff support. We have appointed staff liaisons from our ministerial team to support and guide the following ministries:
- Michael McEntyre, Minister of Engaged Aging, will be the staff liaison for the Yard Sale.
- Camille Loomis Rehnborg, Minister of Spiritual Formation, will serve as liaison to the LGBTQ Community Group,
- Kyle Matthews, Minister of Pastoral Care, will support Phoebe Circles.
- I will serve as liaison for Hosea and Local Relief and oversee Beth Olson, Ministry Assistant for Community Engagement.
During this transition, Beth has graciously agreed to increase her hours and act as our “air traffic controller,” directing calls and emails regarding community engagement to the right lay leader or staff member. If you have a question about community engagement, you can reach Beth at community.engagement@firstbaptistgreenville.org. She will help connect you with the right person!
In addition, during this interim period, we plan to evaluate our community engagement efforts, reflecting on where we have been and envisioning where we want to go before filling this position. We want to ensure the position meets the church’s current and future needs and plans. Matt had already begun conversations with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) regarding an evaluation tool they have developed to help churches assess their community ministry efforts. The Missions Committee and the Partnership and Affiliation Committee plan to meet with Ellen Sechrest from CBF later this spring, hopefully in March, to engage in that evaluation. As more information becomes available about our long-term plans, I will update you. I anticipate we will know more by late spring.
We are grateful for the dedication of our staff, lay leaders and volunteers during this transition. Thank you for your continued support and commitment to sharing the love of Christ with our neighbors.
-Carol