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Committee RecommendationFollowing is the text of the announcement of the Search Committee recommendation, delivered at 11:00 worship on March 22 by I.W. Grogan III, Search Committee chair. Tapes of the full address are available on request from the church office.
Your Pastor Search Committee has been working diligently during the past eighteen months to seek the Pastor we believe God has prepared for College Park Baptist Church. We have carefully reviewed the constitutionally mandated requirements for Pastor, the survey you completed and your own personal input-you've not been shy! We were very impressed with the constitutional requirements for a visionary congregational leader, a proclaimer of the Word and pastoral caregiver. The Committee searched very carefully and prayerfully to insure that the candidate had a clear call from God, first to the pastorate and equally to the pastorate of College Park. We searched for a candidate who in our judgment is sensitive to what is happening in our church and who best reflects who we are as a church, where we are going and what we are about as we move along our spiritual journey.
We placed much of our emphasis on a candidate's own spiritual journey and his heart for being a pastor to all groups within College Park. Our search has ultimately led us to The Reverend Ramon Smith, our Minister of Youth and Education. We do not believe anyone demonstrates the best interests of College Park Baptist Church more than he does. We are convinced beyond doubt that he has received a personal call from God to College Park and that his spiritual journey serves as a model for all of us. In his service as Minister of Youth and Education, Ramon has been widely recognized for his outstanding leadership not only in North Carolina, but also throughout the Southeast. He has faithfully served in a pastoral leadership role during the past two years as well as serving in the critical role of pastoral care. We believe that he will have little difficulty in assuming the responsibilities as Senior Pastor.
One obvious question that arises is why it took us so long to find someone that was right here all the time. The committee decided quite early that Ramon would be treated and evaluated the same as every other candidate. There would be no automatic promotion. If we were to select Ramon, it would only be because he was the best candidate for Pastor of College Park. He would not be given an advantage because we already knew him.
In our early deliberations, the committee reached consensus that what the church needed was someone who could help us find our vision for carrying out God's ministry, someone who could work well with the strong lay leadership of our church, someone who can challenge us to realize and take advantage of the talents and gifts we have been given. Most of all, we wanted and prayed for God's guidance. We wanted to hear whom God had in mind for our church. We have
frequently asked for your prayers in this regard, and we felt the power of those prayers.We knew from the beginning that Ramon was a man of extraordinary wisdom and with a thorough knowledge and understanding of scripture. We knew that he had a reputation beyond the boundaries of North Carolina for his unsurpassed leadership in Youth Ministry. We knew of his deep passion for reaching the lost. We realized rather early that he had a calling to be a senior pastor. Our concerns were just two: 1) without experience as senior pastor, did he have the background, vision, and calling for being our senior pastor, and 2) would we be able to see him as a senior pastor after only knowing him in a different role? Our answer to both is a strong "yes"! We especially noted the successful transition of Youth Minister to senior pastor of Charles Edwards' former pastorate in Zebulon and at Northwest Baptist here in Winston-Salem.
I would like to take one moment to speak directly to our youth, since you will be especially impacted by our recommendation of Ramon. You've trained him well! And you're not losing him, but instead watching him move in submission to God's call. As you have prayed for his ministry among yourselves, so please continue to pray that God will use him for the benefit of all of us.
Over the past year and a half, even as we interviewed candidates, we saw an evolving relationship between Ramon and College Park. We began to appreciate that he has great vision, great PASTORAL vision, and not just a vision for youth ministry. We saw our church members increasingly turning to him for pastoral leadership. We came to appreciate that Ramon has exactly the gifts that we were looking for in a pastor, and we came to realize that our members are more and more fully appreciating those gifts. His vision for College Park is quite special. He knows us, understands us, he loves us, and he can lead us to great things in God's work.
In retrospect, we can see God's hand in our committee's long process. During the past eighteen months, our church has worked through significant challenges, we have grown, and we are ready for the pastor Ramon can be. Ramon has shared with the Committee the exciting spiritual journey he has made over the same period. We are convinced that this time has been wisely used as God has prepared Ramon and College Park for our new relationship. The Committee has complete confidence that Ramon is the pastor God has chosen for College Park Baptist Church.
We have challenges and opportunities in front of us. We have a great sense of who we are, and we have a yearning to do more in God's name. No one is better suited to lead us, equip us, inspire us, and engage us in the work of God here on earth. The Committee unanimously recommends that The Reverend Ramon Smith be
called as Pastor of College Park Baptist Church. Procedurally, Ramon will speak during morning worship on Sunday, April 6, and we will vote on a call to him by secret ballot immediately following the service. During the week of March 30 - April 4, we will schedule several sessions where you can meet with him to discuss any items of interest you may have. He will be able to begin his duties immediately.The Pastor Search Committee is grateful for your prayers, your input and your patience, as we have deliberated. Please continue in prayer for Ramon, his family (Saundra, Carson and Ashtin), College Park Baptist Church and your Pastor Search Committee as we consider calling him to be our pastor.
Having recommended that College Park call Ramon, we thought that he might wish to speak briefly this morning in response to our recommendation and share with us as he feels led.