BGCT Exec Director Moving To Midland

[Big Daddy Weaver]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Dave Roberts]

I'm afraid it's all too common for state convention people to pick the plums of interims and even intentional interims before letting others get a chance at them. I have known of people on some state staffs who reviewed churches coming open each week to see if there was one they might want to serve. The right to do interims is often something on which state staffers insist when hired. I personally think they should not be in the interim positions for several reasons--chief among them is being out there and available to any church that needs them. To the best of my knowledge, John Upton at the BGAV has not done interims, but I could be mistaken on that. I've never heard of him serving since becoming executive director.

[Tim Bonney]

Ed mentioned differences in protocol between ABC and SBC interims. Also it is unusual, at least from my experience, to announce anything before the church votes. If the vote doesn't go your way it could be embarrassing.

[Big Daddy Weaver]

[Tim Dahl]

I've been in a few conversations concerning interim positions over the past few years. They tend to be around the areas of "intentional interim vs. traditional interim." I do remember people speaking in a negative light concerning others who go from the interim position to the pastorate. But, these conversations were held in the midst of my moderate brethren, and they may have been speaking of fundamentalists taking advantage of the interim/church relationship. I seriously doubt that any of those guys will say anything negative bout the BGCT Exec going to Midland.

Overall, my understanding is that interim pastors becoming the official pastors of the church is frowned upon in TX. But then again, I've only been a part of the conversation here for about 8 years. It was also my understanding that intentional interims aren't allowed to apply for the regular position. Again, I may just be misinformed about that.

Tim

[Tim Bonney]

[Dave Roberts]

If you do intentional interim ministry under the interim ministry network, you must put in your contract with the church that you cannot be an candidate for the pastorate. That's part of the ethical requirements for intentional interim work.

[William Thornton]

I sense some resentment on the part of workaday pastors when they see denominational employees taking interims although I understand that their job may not include being available on Sundays to promote the work of the state convention or whatever. I'd guess that most state conventions have policies on this.

For the BGCT head to tie himself up on Sundays for a long strech would appear to me to be not a good practice. If anyone needs to be available to the churches on Sundays it would be the head guy. As David Montoya said some time ago, it was widely known that the man was wanting to leave. Maybe the BGCT Executive Board could read the tea leaves and take the posture that if he wants to go, help him to leave.

The BGCT has done a pretty good job of defining itself as the SBC's most dysfunctional state convention.

[Cathy]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Neil Heath]

As a matter of information, when I worked for Ga. Baptists (retired in 2006), an employee could accept an interim for a max of 13 weeks. It could be extended by permission from higher up the chain. Don't know how often that was done because I never did an interim. I was told by someone in the state office I trust that many of the staff are able to effectively double their salaries by preaching on the side. That may have been interims, it may have been single Sunday bookings, probably some of both.

I agree that an interim should never be a candidate for the permanent position, simply because it gives him/her an inside track that no one else they consider could have.

[Ed Pettibone]

[Dave Roberts]

[quote="Ed Pettibone"] Ed: Dave how about saving me some time by telling me more about the "intentional interim network", such as who operates it and from where?

The Interim Ministry Network was born out of the Alban Institute and now is a stand-alone agency certifying Intentional Interim Ministers. Intentional Interims are specially trained ministers who have completed a 24-hour residency course, a 40-hour residency training, and six months of field training in the issues of transition in churches. Those ministers especially focus on churches that are going through difficult transitions either because of long-tenured ministers or those whose tenures ended from moral issues or were terminated by the church. My training was done through the Center for Congregational Health out of Winston-Salem, NC which is a major training force for this program. There were two ABC ministers in our group including one from NY.

[William Thornton]

[Ed Pettibone]

[HowellS]

[Jerry_B]

Living in and being from West Texas, I saw him preaching on TV a couple of months ago and was surprised by his title interim, a bit unusual I thought. Now the other shoe has dropped and the BGCT is left again looking for an executive director. I have no real feelings for or against Everett, though he never moved the needle much for me. More and more the BGCT has become irrelevant to my ministry efforts. We do what we do as a church, support those areas we like. Other then that out where I am and where Everett is going the BGCT is understood to be an I-35 corridor convention. Sure attempts are made to reach out and help the further reaches of Texas, but they come off as what they are window dressing more so then actual help.

Though really are there any state conventions that actually much help? When state conventions are voting to reduce their own funding to a 50/50 split, do the people in the pew really see the need for a state convention? I guess not. Perhaps Everett can see the writing on the wall and wants to instead be in a place or relevant ministry.

[William Thornton]

[Sandy]

[Chris]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Tim Bonney]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Haruo]

It would seem to me it might depend both on how many of the previous pastor's duties were being assumed (and how much time the pastor had actually been putting in on them), and on what the previous pastor was being paid. If the previous pastor was getting a 6-digit salary and working less than 50 hours a week, I can see how something less than $50K might be justifiable for a 40-hour-a-week interim, but if the interim was shouldering the whole workload plus having to learn the ropes, I would think something closer to the former pastor's salary might be just.