Pastor Search

Please be praying for our pastor search team and this process.

We began the search for a new lead pastor in February 2023. The first phase of the search process includes forming the Pastor Search Team (PST), assigning roles to team members, developing a communications process, and establishing the mission, vision, values and goals of the team. With assistance from Agora Search Group and input from staff, board members, and congregational listening meetings, the team is currently working on creating an opportunity profile (church profile and pastor job description).

Before information is circulated to our congregation or potential candidates, the board and our pastors are working to clarify some details with our region, the American Baptist Churches of the Central Pacific Coast, that are specific to NCC’s status as a congregation moving from a church plant into a more established, self-sufficient church. We are working with the region to resolve questions as quickly as possible.

When we have completed discussions with the region and finalized the church profile and job description, we’ll begin researching potential candidates and receiving nominations, selecting candidates for interview, and the interview process itself. In the final phase, the team will recommend a candidate or candidates to the NCC board and confirm that the candidate is eligible for ordination in NCC’s denomination, American Baptist Churches USA.

Once the team has made a recommendation and the board has approved a candidate, there will be a meeting with NCC’s stewards (members) to present information about the candidate and hold a vote. Once accepted, plans will be made for the new lead pastor’s arrival and installation.

Pastor Search Team

Our Mission

We are honored to have the opportunity to seek out the lead pastor whom God has anointed for NCC. Through prayer and with humility, we are diligently discerning who is the best fit to help us fulfill our mission as an authentic community of Christ-followers. We are rooted in scripture and committed to being a positive influence in our community and the world. We believe that God will guide us towards the right person to lead us forward, and we are excited to see where this journey will take us.

 

  • Diana Peterson, chair

  • Joanna Bartel

  • Todd Johnson

  • Maria Lim

  • Patty Martin

  • Jon Mosby

  • Ben Smith

  • Ken Perez (ex officio)

 

Contact: pastorsearch@anewcommunity.church

Timeline to Date

November 21, 2023 - An email was distributed to all NCC stewards, informing them that before information is circulated to our congregation or potential candidates, the board and our pastors are working to clarify some details with our region, the American Baptist Churches of the Central Pacific Coast, that are specific to NCC’s status as a congregation moving from a church plant into a more established, self-sufficient church. We are working with the region to resolve questions as quickly as possible.

August 27, 2023 - At the NCC annual meeting, the team shared their plan to finalize the opportunity profile this fall, which will kick off the candidate search phase.

July 22-23, 2023 - Agora Search Group visited NCC to meet with the staff, board and PST, beginning the process of consolidating listening group feedback and board survey results which will result in an opportunity profile (church profile and pastor job description).

June 25, 2023 - Fireside Room, 11:30 am. Any NCC attendee is welcome to join a listening session with members of the team. We're seeking to hear from you about what is important to you for our next lead pastor. Share your thoughts, questions, and concerns as we listen and discern. If you can’t make it in person, please join us on Zoom, passcode: NCC.

June 20, 2023 - The NCC board hired Agora Search Group to assist with the search for a new lead pastor.

March 26, 2023 - A number of folks have asked what they can do, or have started to ask about providing input. We have three thoughts of ways you might begin to engage with us in this process.

  1. Please Pray: We know God has already prepared the way for our next lead pastor. Our job as a congregation is to listen. So we ask you to pray.

  2. Please Reflect: This is also a great time for us, as a community, to reflect on our Statement of Faith, a statement that begins with this sentence:

    “We are a community on a journey to discover what it means to be fully alive—to God, to our true selves, to each other and to the beauty and brokenness of our world.”

    Our website includes our entire statement of faith, a prayerfully constructed humble vision of what we mean when we talk about New Community Church. If you’ve never read it before, please take some time to pray over it. Even if you have read it before, please take some time to pray over it.

  3. Please Share: And while you are on the website, take a look at our Community of Stewards page – what it means to be a member at NCC. These are the people who will vote on the next lead pastor. But also take a look at what we say about Spiritual Formation. And you can send notes to the search team based upon your prayers and reflections.

February 12, 2023 - A pastor search team with three current board members and four at-large members from our congregation was commissioned in the worship service.