July 23, 2024 – Church Vote Results & Next Steps
This past Sunday, 7/21 we had the privilege of voting on Dennis Taylor (DT) to serve as our new Senior Pastor (SP). The results from that vote were that ~65% of the members present and voting, confirmed that DT should serve as our SP. However, the required amount to confirm anyone as SP is ~66.7% per our church bylaws. Therefore, Dennis was not confirmed as our Senior Pastor. The vote was extremely close, in fact, just 12 votes made the difference.
There were several unusual things noted about the vote, including:
• 6 ballots were signed by members that did not cast either a Yes or No vote.
• 11 members were told that their membership was marked “inactive” in our system for unspecified reasons and were not given a ballot to vote.
• At least 2 recent members that had completed the New Members class & signed the Covenant Card, were told they were not allowed to vote because they had not yet been presented to the church, per the Bylaws.
• Many members were away or unable to be present to vote (an example is our mission team currently in Serbia).
Considering the closeness of the vote as well as some of the apparent irregularities that occurred, the Elders have been seeking God for His wisdom about next steps for PABC and for the SP position.
First, we believe that the church needs to be unified. We believe the current lack of unity would be a deterrent to any candidate for the Senior Pastor position with the present state of our membership. So, for now, we will focus on the healing and unity within our church body.
Therefore, we are postponing the search for a SP candidate until such a time the Elders believe the church is sufficiently healed, unified, and ready to move forward in one accord.
Second, we must address vacancies in our Senior Leadership Team. Since the resignation of our Senior Pastor in February, our Senior Leadership Team and staff have done an outstanding job continuing the mission of our church. A key member of this team, Billy Durham, will retire after 33 years of faithful service at the end of this month. Billy played an important role in the day-to-day management of our staff as well as a respected, spiritual leader for our church.
Over the last six months, Dennis Taylor has done an outstanding job as our Interim Speaker. His messages have been anointed, his ministry has helped add new members to our church, and his humble servant’s heart has encouraged many of us. He has demonstrated excellent leadership qualities in rebooting our activities ministry and involving many members in the various ministry teams he established. He has earned the respect of his ministry director peers, the Senior Leadership team, and our members.
Therefore, the Elders in agreement with our Apostles are appointing Dennis Taylor as our “Interim Lead Pastor” effective immediately. We pray that all members will support and encourage Pastor Dennis in this new role as he helps our church move forward toward healing and the exciting future God has for PABC.
God is present and doing a good work in us and for us. It is time to unite our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Sincerely, The Elders:
William Chivers
Randall Coleman
Jody Fluhr
Jim Matthews
Jack Simpson
Dave Tucker
Boyd Wessinger
There were several unusual things noted about the vote, including:
• 6 ballots were signed by members that did not cast either a Yes or No vote.
• 11 members were told that their membership was marked “inactive” in our system for unspecified reasons and were not given a ballot to vote.
• At least 2 recent members that had completed the New Members class & signed the Covenant Card, were told they were not allowed to vote because they had not yet been presented to the church, per the Bylaws.
• Many members were away or unable to be present to vote (an example is our mission team currently in Serbia).
Considering the closeness of the vote as well as some of the apparent irregularities that occurred, the Elders have been seeking God for His wisdom about next steps for PABC and for the SP position.
First, we believe that the church needs to be unified. We believe the current lack of unity would be a deterrent to any candidate for the Senior Pastor position with the present state of our membership. So, for now, we will focus on the healing and unity within our church body.
Therefore, we are postponing the search for a SP candidate until such a time the Elders believe the church is sufficiently healed, unified, and ready to move forward in one accord.
Second, we must address vacancies in our Senior Leadership Team. Since the resignation of our Senior Pastor in February, our Senior Leadership Team and staff have done an outstanding job continuing the mission of our church. A key member of this team, Billy Durham, will retire after 33 years of faithful service at the end of this month. Billy played an important role in the day-to-day management of our staff as well as a respected, spiritual leader for our church.
Over the last six months, Dennis Taylor has done an outstanding job as our Interim Speaker. His messages have been anointed, his ministry has helped add new members to our church, and his humble servant’s heart has encouraged many of us. He has demonstrated excellent leadership qualities in rebooting our activities ministry and involving many members in the various ministry teams he established. He has earned the respect of his ministry director peers, the Senior Leadership team, and our members.
Therefore, the Elders in agreement with our Apostles are appointing Dennis Taylor as our “Interim Lead Pastor” effective immediately. We pray that all members will support and encourage Pastor Dennis in this new role as he helps our church move forward toward healing and the exciting future God has for PABC.
God is present and doing a good work in us and for us. It is time to unite our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Sincerely, The Elders:
William Chivers
Randall Coleman
Jody Fluhr
Jim Matthews
Jack Simpson
Dave Tucker
Boyd Wessinger