Dr. Bryan PainHello Church Family!
I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself and share with you a little about the Moving Forward Process. My name is Bryan Pain and I am a Regional Ministry Partner for Oklahoma Baptists serving the Southwest Region of Oklahoma. Before taking this role in January of 2025, I served in pastoral ministry for 25 years with the last 13 of those years being at First Baptist Church in Duncan. My wife (Shonda) and I have been married for 31 years and are recently empty nesters. Our oldest daughter is an RN working at Duncan Regional Hospital while also attending Nurse Practitioner School. She and her husband both live in Duncan. Our youngest daughter also lives in Duncan and she is finishing work on an Early Childhood Education degree from Cameron University. Our son is a Freshman at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, studying biology, pre-med.
I am looking forward to being with you on February 22 to share from God’s word and to answer your questions about the Moving Forward Process your Personnel Committee is recommending. First and foremost, if you affirm this recommendation, it will mean that I will have the honor of serving First Baptist Ada as your interim pastor. In addition to providing consistent preaching from God’s Word, working with your current staff and committees, we will form a new Moving Forward Team to help us do some spiritual work to prepare for calling your next pastor.
The Moving Forward Team will be an intentionally multi-generational team with representation from the ministries of the church. This team will be appointed by the Committee on Committees and approved by vote of the church. This team will meet with me on Sunday afternoons or evenings for spiritually-based strategic planning. We will work to assess the current reality, review the history of the church, and plan for a preferred future. At times, this work will involve the entire church, but most of the meetings will be with the team and myself. At regular intervals, the church will be updated on the work of the Moving Forward Team with communication on Sunday mornings and updates in the church newsletter. The culmination of their work will be a report presented to the church. This report will be considered and (hopefully) affirmed in a church wide business meeting. I recognize that this explanation will likely elicit many questions, and I hope that you will bring them with you when we meet on the evening of the 22nd. I want the church to understand as much as possible before engaging in this process.
The biggest difference between a Moving Forward Interim and a Traditional Interim is the amount of time taken in establishing a Pastoral Search Committee. The work of the Moving Forward Team and the resulting report will serve both the Pastoral Search Committee and potential pastoral candidates as to how the Lord is leading First Baptist Ada to move forward. The length of the Moving Forward Process varies from church to church but generally takes 12 to 16 weeks to complete. However, the Pastoral Search Committee can usually be elected within 9 to 12 weeks once the process begins. My experience has shown that these weeks of intentional spiritual work by the church results in greater unity and heightened expectation in the calling of the next pastor. Until we meet, please know that I have been and will continue to pray for you!
Blessings!
Dr. Bryan Pain
