1 /5 Katie Reborchick: Before proceeding with the following analysis, a clear understanding of this statement’s intentions must be fully understood and defined. This is a call to action. While the information provided below may suggest condemnation and distain, the examples remain to illuminate an underlining thesis that corrective action must immediately transpire in order to restore this institution to its previous grandeur. The following outlines firsthand accounts with neither heresy nor conjecture. A collection of primary source and open-source material contributed to the accuracy of this record.
Roughly seven years ago a visitor to First Baptist Church of Georgetown (FBCGT) would have likely heard some sentiment of “we’re currently a ship adrift.”. The church was actively seeking to fill several positions such as Lead Pastor and Worship Pastor. A “search committee” lead the effort to fill the vacancies and regularly updated the congregation. During this time, Associate and Visiting Pastors rotated weekly delivering a message that remained both topical and relevant. In addition, a church volunteer led the worship portion of the service and kept the music “fresh and new.” The church was anything but “adrift” as they so often liked to say.
The church’s Sunday routine focused on individualized, age-appropriate religious education. Two uniquely different services were offered – a traditional and a contemporary. In additional, the church offered ‘care’ for children pre-kindergarten to fifth grade during service time. This allowed the parents of children an opportunity to listen to the Word without distraction. It also provided children an environment more advantageous for religious education, since “most young children do not respond well to being locked in a pew for an hour while someone drones on about something someone wrote down 2K/5K years ago.” The traditional service was attended by a more senior population, and the contemporary service by a younger crowd. While the message was the same for both services, minor adjusts were made to accommodate the attending audience; such as, the volume of the worship music and the adaptation of the songs performed.
The search committee reached its decision and notified the congregation that a Lead Pastor had been located and offered employment. Shortly after his arrival the termination of valuable resources; such as, those mentioned above and not mentioned above began to unfold. In addition, month’s following the Lead Pastor’s arrival, the search committee announced that the Worship Pastor and Kid’s Pastor positions had been filled. The positions were awarded to former associates of the new Lead Pastor and from his previous church. The removal of the children’s care on Sunday and the installment of three Pastor’s all with the same lineage and pedigree eroded the congregation’s trust as well as the search committee’s integrity.
The arrival of the new Worship Pastor brought additional errors in judgement and conflicts in interest. The two unique services (traditional and contemporary) were molded into one “vanilla and bland” Sunday service. The long-standing members of the worship team were slowly and systematically replaced with family members and friends. The brother of the newly appointed Worship Pastor was hired “without reservation” but with great suspicion. It appeared that the church’s leadership was forming a clique or “boys club.” What occurred next provided the proof that you were either “with them or not.”
While unpleasant as it may be; “don’t fault the dog for being a dog;” however, the Mobilization Pastor seems to have little understanding of this basic principle. I refuse to outline in greater detail this event; but know this, what you do when no one is looking is your character. This man’s moral integrity and character remains flawed beyond repair. This incident only highlights the “boys club” disease that infests this organization. He remains in a position of moral authority having none whatsoever himself.
The "boys club" has ruined this place.
