Update

July 22, 2024

Greetings Church Family,

We continue to make progress!  As mentioned below, we have five or fewer active candidates remaining. The Holy Spirit has been gracious to us throughout.

Over the past 30 days, despite the power and communication interruptions, we have had 13 individual meetings with candidates in addition to our regularly scheduled meetings. Some meetings have been as an entire group, and some have been one-on-one. All covered in prayer.

We expect to continue our multi-week process, including interviews, in-person visits, screening, and review of the remaining candidates. We continue to review theological questionnaires, sermons, reference check authorizations, background (criminal/credit) authorizations, and information from other sources.

We will provide you with a written report covering any candidate we recommend as God’s Man to the church the week before any “in view of a call” or vote.

Please direct anyone with comments about our process or communications to this webpage. We continue to be available for questions after business meetings, as we were on July 21.

We continue to follow the process we provided to the church body in late 2023 below, through the lens of God’s Word.

Thank you for your prayers and patience through this process.

Update

June 26, 2024

 Before we begin the official update, we call your attention to this note from Pastor John Burris. We praise God for John and Jenny’s faithfulness to KFBC.

Greetings Church Family,

We continue to make progress! The figures from our Candidate Receipt Phase (as of 6-25-2024) are as follows:

• Received Inbound (Candidate Resumes, Inquiries, and Job Postings): 145
• Documents Received and Processed (Resumes, Reference Letters, etc…): 171
• Stage 1 Candidates Meeting Initial Qualifications: 32
• Stage 2 Candidates Currently Under Consideration: 5

We expect to continue our multi-week screening and review of the remaining candidates. This will continue a process based on a set of best practices we identified several weeks ago—well before any resumes were received. We have already moved into a review of theological questionnaires, in-depth sermon reviews, reference check authorizations, background (criminal/credit) authorizations, and various interviews in various formats with various individual(s) – not necessarily in that order. As with any H.R. process in any other organization in America – do not expect updates on these. We will provide a written report for you covering any candidate we recommend to the church the week before any “in view of a call” or vote.

We will also be making in-person church visits, which we expect to take place over the next few weeks. Please keep in mind this will slow down iterations, because visits can only be made on weekends and we are running a nationwide search.

As mentioned below, we will not subdivide quantities of candidates on future reports (now that we are at 5) until we are prepared to make a recommendation. We may return to the market for additional candidates if we do not believe God’s Man’s calling is evident. But for now, these men in Stage 2 above are likely the 5 remaining candidates. We may reslot or prioritize some, but we only have 5 official candidates at this time.

Please direct anyone with any comments about our process or communications to this webpage. We continue to follow the process we provided to the church body in late 2023 below.

Clark Fertitta will update the congregation this Sunday morning during service, June 30.

Update

June 10, 2024

Greetings church. The SPST team is working hard in this Texas heat to continue the process we laid out for you in the below November 29 update and shared in the December 3 service video (both below). We want to be very clear about where we are in the process and our communications plan, both of which we outlined below (and on stage during a Sunday morning service in December) for you 6 months ago. 

As you will recall, in May you received the following communications from us: 

1. written update on May 6
2. written update on May 23
3. verbal update from the stage during the May 19 Sunday morning service 
4. verbal update on May 19 service published in a video on YouTube for anyone
5. members of the SPST were available to you for one-on-ones following the May 19 service (only three people came forward with comments or questions). 
6. members of the SPST were also available to you for one-on-ones following the June 9 business meeting (with minimal commenters).   

Any questions about our communications can be referred to the below November 29, 2023 Update under the section “Communication Plan.” If you hear anything not on this webpage – no matter who it is from – assume it is incorrect. 

As outlined in the process summary we gave you below on December 19, 2023, and we notified you in the May 19 service prior to our period of fasting in May, we have completed the Candidate Recept Phase and are moving into in-depth candidate reviews.

The figures from our Candidate Receipt Phase are as follows:

Received Inbound (Candidate Resumes, Inquiries, and Job Postings): 145 

Documents Received and Processed (Resumes, Reference Letters, etc…): 171

Stage 1 Candidates Meeting Initial Qualifications: 32

Stage 2 Candidates Currently Under Consideration: 11 (as of June 10 at 8:00 AM CST)

We expect to continue our multi-week screening and review of the remaining candidates. This will continue a process of grading and scoring based on a set of best practices we identified several weeks ago—well before any resumes were received. This will move into a series of theological questionnaires, in-depth sermon reviews, reference checks, and various interviews in various formats with various individual(s) – not necessarily in that order. As with any H.R. process in any other organization in America – do not expect updates on these. We will provide a written report for you covering any candidate we recommend to the church a week before any “in view of a call” or vote.  

We will alert the Church when we believe we have fewer than five potential candidates, but we will not subdivide the reports below five candidates until we are prepared to make a recommendation. We may return to the market for additional candidates if we do not believe God’s Man is evident. But for now, these men in Stage 2 above are likely the 11 remaining candidates. 

Please direct anyone with any comments about our process or communications to this webpage. We continue to follow the process we provided to the church body six months ago below. 

We appreciate our church family’s encouragement and continued prayers. Please pray for unity in our church body. Please also pray for our Personnel, Stewardship, and Transition Committees as they diligently work through their projects. 

Update

May 23, 2024 – Fasting & Prayer

Greetings Church!

We look forward to our upcoming time of fasting and prayer with you.  This coming Sunday (May 26) begins an opportunity for members to join together in a churchwide fast for one 24-hour period of your choice, the week of May 26-June 2, as your health permits and the Lord leads. (We encourage you to watch the service online for those not at church this past Sunday.)

Day(s) of Fasting

On fasting days, we have found beginning the day in the Psalms helpful. They will set your mind and heart in the proper direction—silent worship. If you want this—this unification of your mind and heart to God more than food—then beginning with Psalm Chapter 1 is a good place to begin. Reading Psalm chapters 1-20 will lead you through the full range of human emotions and worship as you begin your time with the Lord. 

And if you work while you fast, let your work be worship. 

Specific Prayers

1. Enter Lord Christ. I have joy in your coming. I am now looking for you. Our church seeks you.
2. Father, we want more of you in our families, communities, and in your church TODAY. 
3. Lord Christ, we want more of your likeness TODAY in your church.
4. Holy Spirit, move TODAY in a new and holy fire in our church and homes.
5. God, send your man in your time to your people.

Prayer Focus for Each Fasted Meal

For each fasted meal, we ask that you pray over the below themes for yourself, your loved ones, and your church. We believe God’s man will be most clearly seen as we pray more like God’s church. 

Begin each prayer with repentance and end in worship. 

Sunday, May 26: humbling yourself before God (1 Kings 21:27–29; Psalm 35:13)
Monday, May 27: expressing repentance and returning to God (1 Samuel 7:6; Jonah 3:5–8)
Tuesday, May 28: expressing love and worship to God (Luke 2:37)
Wednesday, May 29: ministering to the needs of others (Isaiah 58:3–7)
Thursday, May 30: overcoming temptation and dedicating yourself to God (Matthew 4:1–11)
Friday, May 31: strengthening prayer (Ezra 8:23; Joel 2:13; Acts 13:3)
Saturday, June 1: seeking God’s guidance (Judges 20:26; Acts 14:23)
Sunday, June 2: tasting and seeing that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8)
(themes from Desiring God) 

Then, don’t end your prayer. Continue to live your prayers. A proper life is itself a prayer.

As you have the opportunity when you complete your fast – that day or June 2 – we encourage you to share a meal of Thanksgiving with your life group, friends at K.F.B.C., or loved ones out of gratitude for God’s provision. 

We look forward to seeking the Father together.

Additional Fasting Resources:
How to Begin Fasting: (1-Page Printable Navigators PDF)
https://www.navigators.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/navtool-fasting.pdf

Fasting for Beginners:
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/fasting-for-beginners

Secret Benefits of Fasting:
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-secret-benefit-of-fasting

Ligonier Fasting Resource Library:
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/topics/fasting

DesiringGod Fasting Resource Library:
https://www.desiringgod.org/topics/fasting

Update

May 6, 2024

Happy May, Church! 

On May 19, we look forward to having Dr. Josh Ellis, Director of Houston Union Baptist Association, preach in the morning worship service. He will walk us through the purpose of fasting and prayer in the search process. We will share more in that service about an opportunity for members to join us in a churchwide fast for one 24-hour period, the week of May 26-June 2, as your health permits and the Lord leads. 

Again, any regular updates will continue to be made here online, and any major juncture updates will be made during a service. These updates are following a set of best practices we were handed, while we do realize some wish for more detail in other formats. Therefore, we will make two times available for you to speak with members of the SPST. 

1. We will have some of our search team members at the next church business meeting (date not yet set) to answer questions. 

2. Also, on May 19, members of the SPST will be available following the morning worship service in the parlor to answer questions about the process. 

Although we will not be able to discuss any applicants, we will be happy to discuss the process and these updates as best we can. Like any H.R. process in any other organization in the country, certain items members may ask may not receive a satisfactory answer.

We are at the tail end of our resume acceptance period- May 31! If you would like to share the posting using your social media or email relationships, we would appreciate it. Many of the best applicants historically have come from referrals: https://kingwoodfirst.org/search-posting/ 

Then, May 31 will mark the conclusion of the 90-day Candidate Receipt Phase. Our process’ Candidate Receipt Phase is outlined below in our December 19 update. Again, this is a now-expanded 90-day quiet period when resumes will be accepted. 

We expect a multi-week screening & review of the submitted resumes. This will begin a process of grading and scoring based on a set of best practices we identified several weeks ago – well before any resumes were received. 

We appreciate our church family’s encouragement and continued prayers. Please pray for unity in our church body. Please also pray for our Personnel, Stewardship, and Transition Committees as they diligently work through their projects for this new fiscal year. 

Update

April 5, 2024

Happy Friday, Church! 

April 15 will mark half-way into the 90-day Candidate Receipt Phase. Our process’ Candidate Receipt Phase was outlined below in our December 19 update. Again, this is a now-expanded 90-day quiet period when resumes will be accepted. No interviews or communications are expected to take place until after June 1, 2024.

We’d love your referrals! If you would like to share the posting using your social media or email relationships, we would appreciate it. Many of the best applicants historically have come from referrals: https://kingwoodfirst.org/search-posting/ 

Last month, we completed a series of demographic, theological, process, pastoral, and church profile projects, according to the below process schedule. We’ve conducted several additional advice meetings with subject matter experts while continuing our regular times of prayer, Bible study, and Church business.

Again, any regular updates will continue to be made here online, and any major juncture updates will be made during a service. 

We appreciate our church family’s encouragement and continued prayers. Please pray for unity in our church body. Please also continue to pray for our Personnel, Stewardship, and Transition Committees as they diligently work through their various projects for this upcoming fiscal year. 

Update

March 8, 2024

Good news! We expedited our schedule by approximately a month and released the official job posting on March 1.

If you would like to share the posting on social media to help get the word out, you can share this link now: 

https://kingwoodfirst.org/search-posting/ 

As you read the job posting, please note every word was specifically chosen based on surveys, interviews with subject-matter experts, and best practices. We have cross-posted the position on multiple seminary, convention, and association affiliate sites we’ve identified. (If you see a salary posted, please know these sites sometimes infer a potential salary. We are not advertising, or providing, any compensation information.)

Our process’ Candidate Receipt Phase, outlined below in our December 19 update, will be expanded to now entail a 90-day quiet period when resumes will be accepted. We will not be reviewing or discussing resumes during this period (other than an automated email response to candidates). No interviews or communications are expected to take place until after June 1, 2024.

At present, we are wrapping up a series of demographic, theological, process, pastoral, and church profile projects, which we still expect to conclude in March as noted in the below process schedule. We’ve conducted several additional advice meetings with subject matter experts at the Union Baptist Association and other search processes while continuing our regular times of prayer, Bible study, and Church business.

Additionally, several of you have asked whether we would release the survey results. At this time, we are internally utilizing the valuable advice you’ve provided but will not be advertising the results. Some of the results could be interpreted in a mathematically improbable manner, for instance, a 30-year-old pastor with a doctorate and 20 years of ministry experience would have become a senior pastor at age 10. The typed comments also contained a significant treasure trove of data & stories, some of which may not have been provided unless it was kept confidential. We want to set expectations, we won’t be able to appease all appetites, but will certainly let you know if we find that magnificently wise 10-year-old (for those of you interested)!

Again, any regular updates will continue to be made here online, and any major juncture updates will be made during a service.

We appreciate our church family’s encouragement and continued prayers. Please pray for unity in our church body. Give grace and forgiveness, especially when it’s not requested.

Please continue to pray for Kevin and Erin as they move into their next phase. If you have a moment, we’d love it if you’d shoot them a quick message or text!

Update

February 13, 2024

We wish you all a blessed Valentine’s Day today – we feel your love and prayers.

At present, we are still prayerfully working through a series of demographic, theological, process, pastoral, and church profile projects, which we still expect to continue through February and into March as noted in the below process schedule. There is an immense amount of historical data (giving, departments, attendance, etc…) as well, which requires some level of effort. We have also conducted a number of additional advice meetings with subject matter experts at the Union Baptist Association and other search processes.

We are deeply appreciative to the church administration team, namely Penni Jones and Sharon Wood, among others for their help.

As promised, we will be sure to provide you with updates here even if there are no material updates. We will provide some general remarks at the close of the February 18 service, which will not be an official update. Again, any regular updates will continue to be made here online, and any major juncture updates will be made during a service.

We expect to post the position to begin receiving applicants within the next 30-45 days and will alert you at that time here.

We appreciate our church family’s encouragement and continued prayers.

Please pray for Kevin and Erin as they move into their next phase.

Update

January 17, 2024

Following a brief Christmas break, the SPST resumed weekly meetings earlier this month, including supplemental mid-week meetings by smaller task-oriented workgroups as needed.

At present we are prayerfully working through a series of demographic, theological, process, pastoral, and church profile projects which we expect to continue through February.

We requested the church family complete a pastor survey by January 22, which we will utilize in our efforts and in our completion of many of the above projects. We encourage everyone to participate by utilizing (a) the emailed survey, (b) the paper surveys available in service, or (c) the in-app link to the survey. We received over 100 responses in the first week alone!

We appreciate our church family’s encouragements and continued prayers.

Update

December 19, 2023

The SPST completed initial pastor search seminar training through the Union Baptist Association on December 13. As part of this seminar, we were provided general process and best practices for our work.

We have created workgroups from our 11-person SPST, to enable us to work through various tasks and projects simultaneously.

We are targeting the below timeframes for the next two major phases:

Process Building Phase (90 Days)

• We are constructing a survey so that the church membership can provide input for the next senior pastor. We will notify the church family when the survey period begins and ends so that the maximal number of people may participate. We expect this to take place in January.
• In February, we will analyze these survey results from you, and work to create a candidate profile and process which we believe the Lord has for our family.
• In March, we will finalize our process, applicant qualifications, background requirements, demographic research, church historical analysis and be ready to go to market with our search process and receive applicants.

Candidate Receipt Phase (60 Days)

• Once the process, candidate qualifications and requirements, and other profiles are prepared, we expect to make a 60-day resume acceptance window known, tentatively to begin April 1, 2024.
• We will announce the position on a variety of convention, seminary, corporate and other job posting sites as best practices dictate.
• We will announce this opening to you, and seek your help in referring qualified pastors to apply through the proper channels, once they review and determine our church may be for them and that they meet the qualifications.

Candidate Meetings, Questionnaires and Visits (June and Onward)

• We plan to begin evaluations and conversations with candidates during the summer months once all resumes are received and processed.

Update

November 29, 2023

The Senior Pastor Search Team (SPST) met for the first time on Sunday, November 26, 2023. Upon our initial meeting, the team decided:

1. Communication Plan

a. We ask that church members please refrain from asking Search Team members to disclose confidential information about our process, timelines, candidates, and decisions. This will help protect the Church-requested process, team, and pastoral candidates.

b. Updates will be made at this website, generally every month, or more often.

c. Updates during services would be made as major junctures warrant.

d. All committee communications will happen via one of the above methods. No other communication will be made unless made publicly.

e. If there are no updates, we will tell you there are no updates.

2. Process and Resources

a. Generally, we will follow best practice Pastor Search Team processes and guidance as provided by the various agents of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the Union Baptist Associations (UBA), and their affiliates.

b. We will rely primarily on proven search processes over and above the secular executive search processes many of us are accustomed to in our professional work.

3. Meetings

a. The SPST will meet on Sundays at 5:00 PM, except for holidays and when we do not have a quorum. We would appreciate your prayers during this time each week.

4. Training

a. The SPST will host a Pastoral Search expert from the Union Baptist Association in Houston for a deep-dive training session on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

5. Process

a. We will provide you with an overview of our intended process in December.