Good morning everyone. At the time of our last pastor search update, the team had narrowed the group of candidates to four individuals and had just begun remote interviews. Since that update we've completed the remote interviews, spoken with the personal and professional references they provided and conducted extensive background checks on all final prospects. Through 14 hours of in-person meetings and countless texts, emails, and phone calls we have narrowed the candidate pool further and will soon conduct in-person interviews to fully discern God's calling for a final candidate.

On November 10th of last year, even before the search team was created, Coastal hosted a Vision Night to inform you about the search process and suspected timeline. For those who attended that meeting, you will recognize this graphic. At that time, we estimated the process would take 12-18 months. This graphic actually represents 14 months, so it's on the low end of that estimate. So why are we showing this now?

One of my roles for you is to be encouraging while also managing all of our expectations about the process. All along we've sought 100% transparency and that goal has not changed. With caution, I will report that we are slightly ahead of this timeline. According to this, the steps we've completed would put us at mid-August. But please note there are still many important steps remaining.

Last November, it wasn't too difficult hearing that the process would take a while, even a year or more. The situation was still fresh, but we knew our staff and volunteers were amazing and they would be certain Coastal wouldn't miss a beat. That has certainly been true, but now that some time has passed, we understand how "process fatigue" can creep in. People are naturally asking how much longer it will take. We've even heard a couple ask, "will we have a new pastor before school starts?" Please understand that even if we continue tracking a month ahead of schedule, this will mean the final step of presenting a candidate to you will occur sometime during the holidays – and I don't mean the first day of school for all you parents who consider that a holiday. Could it be sooner? Certainly, but also understand that we will not rush God and his timing.

So how can I be encouraging? First, you can see from this graphic that the most time-consuming steps are behind us. Also, any of the four final candidates interviewed would have been excellent pastors for Coastal and narrowing that group was difficult because all of them are faithful, dynamic men of God. But most meaningful for me is that during our last couple of meetings, many team members shared how God had truly spoken to them during their quiet time, leading them toward one specific candidate. It's very encouraging to know that after this next round of interviews and visits, we will bring a single candidate for the staff and Advisory Team to interview. With their approval, we will then present that candidate to you for your vote.

I'd like to mention that I could not be more grateful for each team member and how they've truly sought God's direction in this process. Some search teams become contentious at this point, but these nine men and women have all stayed deeply committed to the work and have each individually voiced their opinions while still respecting the opinions of fellow team members. I'm also grateful to their spouses who've carried the extra load while their husband or wife was in another meeting, on another call, or staring at a computer screen reviewing sermons, resumes and volumes of other pertinent information.

As always, thank you for your prayers and your patience as we seek God's will for our church. Please continue to lift up the staff and each other as we anticipate the day we will celebrate calling the man God has chosen--in His time--for Coastal. Have a great Sunday!

The Pastor Search Team has begun remote interviews of the four Lead-Pastor candidates. The first interview is complete and we expect to interview the remaining three candidates by early July. We will seek God's discernment to then select one candidate from among the four, or at least narrow the group to two if we determine an in-person interview is required before the final selection. All of the candidates have responded very favorably to the process and we look forward to hearing from the remaining candidates as we seek God's will for Coastal and His Kingdom.

Many individuals and Community Groups have told us how they are praying for us and for the Coastal staff. We appreciate every one of you and the prayers you are lifting up on our behalf.

It’s been a while since the last update, but please know that this does not imply a lack of activity in the search process. To quickly review, the job posting--which closed officially earlier this month--yielded a total of just over 240 applicants for the Lead Pastor position. Reviewing resumes narrowed that number to 30 applicants, then eventually to 10. Of these 10, 3 candidates declined to continue the process due to changed circumstances in their lives. We then sent a detailed questionnaire to the remaining 7 seeking additional information that could not be gleaned from a resume. The search team has been pouring over their responses as well as viewing countless sermons from the 7 pastors. Last Wednesday evening we met again and narrowed the group further to 4 candidates.

I’d like to stop for just a moment to let you know that this process has been both extremely encouraging and very challenging. Encouraging because the quality of these individuals is outstanding. All are devout men of God, excellent preachers, committed husbands and fathers, and Coastal would be blessed to have any of them lead us. This is also exactly why the process has been so challenging. We have not spoken to any of them yet, but we’d like to hire every one of them.

But, since we can’t hire all of them, we will now begin conducting interviews to really learn those nuanced details that resumes and questionnaires can’t provide. Our goal is now to discern the one man God has chosen for us from among these 4 candidates. And while we are interviewing them, they will certainly be interviewing us. At this stage, the process is very much a two-way street. The person God chooses to be our next pastor will be making significant changes and new commitments for themselves and their families. We want to get this right, and so do they.

So now I’ll ask the question that I know all of you are thinking: "When will we have a new Lead Pastor at Coastal?" Although we are slightly ahead of the original timeline, it’s impossible to say exactly when we’ll present the final candidate. We are committed to moving through this process as quickly as we can, but as slowly as we should. Again, for all the reasons mentioned earlier, we want get this right.

Thank you for your prayers and your patients as we seek God’s will for our church. Please continue to lift up the staff and look for ways you can make a difference for Christ within Coastal and our community.

Hello Coastal Family,

As mentioned in our last update, the pastor search process is in a period of waiting for responses from select lead pastor candidates. Ten candidates received the questionnaire and several have already submitted answers ahead of the still-pending deadline. Seven of the candidates have expressed continued interest in the position, two have withdrawn themselves from consideration, and we are still awaiting a response from one.

Once the early-May application deadline passes, the search team will review responses and more sermon clips before meeting in late May to narrow the group to 3-5 candidates. We will update the church again after that meeting.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

We are continually grateful for God's abundant provision. To date, He has inspired 213 pastoral candidates to apply for Coastal's lead pastor position. Coastal's pastor search team has studied each resume and many sermon clips from the prospective candidates, first narrowing the group to 30 then finally settling on 9 individuals we feel God is leading us to consider for this position. The application period closes Wednesday April 16th, and provision is made for last-minute applicants.

The team met April 13th, first to narrow the list to the 9 individuals, but also to create a questionnaire which will be sent to these candidates later this week. The questionnaire will provide information about each candidate's testimony and beliefs. It will explore their family life and how it impacts their ministry. Other questions ask about their spiritual gifts, leadership style, and past church experiences. Most importantly, the candidates will have an opportunity to share how and why they feel God is leading them to this opportunity.

Questionnaires will go out just before the Easter holiday and candidates will be given sufficient time to prayerfully consider and submit their answers before an early May deadline. The search team will then review answers and continue reviewing candidate sermons before meeting again in late May to choose 3-5 individuals who will move on to the interview process. Given the time required for this next phase, there may be no new information to provide for the next 5-6 weeks. Rest assured that we will provide another in-person update as soon as there is something new to report.

Many of you have shared how you are praying for this process, both individually and corporately in your Community Groups. God has certainly heard those prayers and has blessed the team with amazing unity and a sense of peace about His involvement in all of our decisions. Please continue praying as we seek perfect discernment about who God has chosen for Coastal.

Good morning. God has continued to bless us with abundant interest in the Lead Pastor position here at Coastal. Since posting the job opening on February 12th, we have received resumes from over 180 interested candidates. While some applicants don’t appear to possess the experience and pastoral attributes you desired in your survey responses, many exceed our expectations while also having much in common with Coastal's values and vision of helping people know and follow Jesus.

All nine members of the Pastor Search Team have committed to reviewing each and every resume. We all have different experiences and opinions, but we all share a love for Coastal and a desire to discern God’s vision for Coastal’s next leader. Team members will each narrow the total candidate pool to those 30-40 candidates God puts on their hearts. Then, next weekend we’ll meet to find consensus among our individual choices, narrowing the field to 30-35 mutually agreed-upon candidates. We’ll then pray over these men for two weeks, returning to again narrow the pool to 5-10 candidates. At this point we’ll really dive in, learning more about each candidate through a series of written questionnaires, phone interviews, and reviews of their on-line sermons.

What else do we want you to know about this process? I guess just know that before, during, and after each process step we are actively seeking God’s direction. People have asked me if I’m concerned about finding our next pastor. I have to say, I’m really not. God is never surprised by anything, and He truly wants what’s best for us. I’m confident that He knows what Coastal needs and that He’ll provide it in His timing.

Again, I encourage you to follow the updates on the website, get involved in the work God is doing here at Coastal, and continue praying for the search team, our staff, and our next lead pastor. Thank you!

Coastal has been blessed with an outpouring of interest in our Lead Pastor position. This response is a testament to God's goodness and our past and current church leadership's efforts to create a positive reputation for Coastal in the church community.

To date we have received over 130 resumes, and they continue to arrive. The Pastor Search Team is evaluating all interested candidates to ensure they meet the desired qualifications and exhibit the heart and spirit you requested. We will continue the evaluations while the job is posted with the goal of narrowing the candidate pool and discerning God's choice for Coastal's next leader.

Little will change while the evaluation process continues, so please expect the next update during the service sometime in mid-to-late March.

We appreciate all who have told us that their community groups are praying for us and the Coastal Staff. Please continue to pray as we seek God's man, in God's time, no exceptions.

Good morning. My name is Scott Jones, and I wouuld like to give you a brief update on the Pastor Search process. I will be on stage about once a month, but between these in-person updates, you are encouraged to monitor progress on Coastal’s web site. We posted an update on January 29th and will post about every two weeks unless we are in a period where there is nothing new to report. Even if that is the case, we will still let you know that. Our goal is to be 100% transparent about the process.

On Coastal’s Pastor Search page, you can find the four phases of the search process. You can see we have now completed and compiled the pastoral survey results. Since the last update, we received almost double the original number of responses with a total of 160. Your feedback is helping direct our search by defining the approximate experience, age, and education you prefer in a Senior Pastor. You also shared many characteristics you feel he should possess and how he should prioritize his time as a pastor, a husband, and--if he has kids--as a father.

The last few weeks, we have been creating the informational profiles describing our church, our community, and our desired lead pastor. These profiles include input from you, from the staff, and from our local church association representative. Again, these profiles will give prospective candidates an idea of who Coastal is as a church, the community and people we serve locally, and the qualities we are seeking in our next lead pastor. The team will meet again today to finalize these profiles and the formal job description. We will post these profiles this week on the web site and at the same time post the job opening within multiple pastoral job-search avenues, for example seminaries and religious association job boards, etc. This will open a 90-day period of receiving resumes for evaluation.

After the resume period closes in May, we will begin narrowing the candidate pool to 10 individuals, then 3-5, and finally 1 to present to you for approval. This process uses a series of questionnaires and interviews--both over the phone and in-person--and will take several months. After this week, we will have completed all of Phase 2 and the first item in Phase 3.

Again, I encourage you to follow the updates on the web site and to continue praying for the search team, our staff, and our next lead pastor. We truly feel and appreciate your prayers! Thank you.

Coastal’s Pastor Search Team has gathered data and information from numerous sources to create the church, community, and pastor profiles necessary to communicate to prospective candidates who we are, the community we serve, and who we are seeking as a pastor. Sources of information included Coastal’s web site, the Galveston Chamber of Commerce, the Union Baptist Association archives, Coastal’s membership data, and congregational input from the recent survey. These profiles will be completed within the next few weeks and posted on Coastal’s web site.

In addition to the profiles, a job description is being created to post simultaneously with the profiles on local, state, and national church and seminary sites. This job posting will open a 90-day period of resume submissions from prospective candidates.

The next update will be provided in-person on February 9th at both services. We appreciate your continued prayers for the staff, the search team, and the next candidate and his family.

Good morning. My name is Scott Jones and I'm honored to serve as the chairman of Coastal's Pastor Search Team. We’ll update you about once a month, or as needed, to be sure you are hearing from us frequently from this stage.

The Search Team is made up of nine Coastal members. You can see our names and pictures on the web site, but here is a summary of who we are. We are 5 men and 4 women. We are in our 20s, our 70s, and all decades in between. We are single, married, have young children still in school, and grown children who've emptied our nest and blessed us with grandchildren. But with all of this diversity, we are unified on a single goal: to identify God's man, in God's time, with no exceptions.

Between these in-person updates, you are encouraged to monitor progress on Coastal's web site. Just click on the "Pastor-Search" tab, where you can see the four phases of the search process with green, yellow, and red icons for each step within each phase. Currently, we have completed Phase I, which was 30 days of prayer and an encouragement to keep praying. I’ll come back to that in a moment. We have also selected a Search Team and begun receiving congregational feedback.

Regarding the congregational feedback, 87 people have responded so far to the survey questions about desirable qualities for the new pastor. We greatly appreciate everyone who responded. You can still respond using the QR code in the seat back or on the program insert until January 19th.

Our next step is to create profiles for our church, our community, and our desired Lead Pastor. These profiles will give prospective candidates an idea of who we are as a church, what we value, our culture, and the community we call home. It will also give them an idea about the qualities we are seeking in our next Lead Pastor. We will then post the profiles and at the same time post the actual job opening. This will begin a 90-day period of receiving resumes for evaluation. Everything I have just described so far takes plus-or-minus 6 months.

During the next phase, we will narrow the candidate field to 10, then 3-5 and eventually one candidate to present to the staff, the Advisory Team, and to you--the congregation--for your approval. This portion of the search can take an additional 6-9 months, or more.

I know this all sounds like a long time, and it is, but it is necessary for us to trust the process and do things properly. This is the "God’s time" part of our task. Throughout the Bible, God asks us to be patient and trust Him with our decisions and our lives.  When we do, our obedience is rewarded. When we don’t trust Him, it usually ends badly.

Your search team will not rush the search process and I encourage you to look to the web site and this stage for your progress updates. I promise that we will be diligent and will apply constant effort to keep moving forward to find God's choice for Coastal's next Lead Pastor.

Lastly, circling back to the 30 days of prayer, please do not stop praying just because the 30 days is over. Please continue praying for the staff, the search team, the man that God has selected as our next Lead Pastor, his entire family, and his current church. At some point, that church could be in our shoes. And pray for Coastal. We are still the same church, stacking the deck for the next generation and helping people know and follow Jesus. That has not changed, and we are making an impact in our community every day.

Your. Prayers. Matter! Thank you.