That call weekend in September 2020 was one Matt Marston said he will never forget — and not only because it resulted in him becoming the senior minister of First Baptist Church in Athens, Ga.
“Because of all the precautions around COVID, a sanctuary that holds 500 had maybe 40 people in it,” he said. “Then some of the people voted via Survey Monkey and others called in their votes.”
The preceding interview process was equally unusual at times, including one virtual meeting with church leaders early in the process.
Matt Marston
“When I Zoomed into the deacons’ meeting, my kids inadvertently did, too.,” Marston recalled. “There was this explosion of noise with the kids yelling at each other, and then the dog got into the action.”
By all accounts, Marston’s experience is typical among other ministers who changed pulpits during the last year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides preaching to empty sanctuaries in view of a call — and in some cases for months after beginning their new roles — these pastors say they have yet to personally meet most church members and were unable to adequately say goodbye to their previous churches. But they also testify to the courage and ingenuity of lay leaders and congregations determined to fill vacancies even in the most difficult of times.
And for some of them, the experience has been moving.
“A year ago, I just didn’t think it would be possible to be called to a new church until the pandemic was over. That was just so outside my box,” said Mary Alice Birdwhistell, pastor at Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., since August. “But I have discovered throughout this process that churches are resilient and that the Spirit of God works and moves in ways that we could not even imagine. And so, this has been a pretty incredible experience.”
Mary Alice Birdwhistell
Birdwhistell said her call weekend was postponed from April to May 2020 as she and church leaders waited for the coronavirus outbreak to subside. Realizing it wouldn’t, the date was set for June.
“I’ll never forget it,” she said. “The search committee was spread out in an otherwise empty sanctuary while I preached to the red dot on the camera, which all pastors have learned to do this year. Then the church voted electronically, and some called in, which felt like being on ‘American Idol.’”
Because Highland Baptist is still all-virtual in its gatherings, Birdwhistell has preached to an empty sanctuary for her entire tenure to date. As a result, getting to know people has been painfully slow and incremental. “At this point I’ve had over 75 meetings with about 150 people. I am trying to meet people where they are and where they feel safe.”
Social distancing and masking requirements also interfered with a meaningful departure from Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, where she was senior pastor before moving to Louisville. “I still remember wearing a mask that was wet from tears and from not being able to hug people I loved as I said goodbye,” she said.
Dan Freemyer
The emotional impact of being robbed of those transitional experiences was at times intense, agreed Dan Freemyer, who left a missions role at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas — after 18 years there — to become senior pastor at Providence Church in Charleston, S.C. “There was a level of sadness that would catch me off guard at times.”
Freemyer’s installation service at Providence was held March 8, 2020, the last Sunday before in-person gatherings were canceled. “We did have the service, and then my joke was that I broke the church at that point. We have not been in person for more than a year.”
Bouts of sadness resulted in part from preaching to a cell phone camera and not being able to meet all of his parishioners. “There is a sense of frustration from not being able to develop relationships from the front,” he said.
Consequently, preaching is impacted by not having those relationships in the congregation. “That alters the message that you’re able to deliver,” Freemyer said. “If you don’t have a rapport with people … it feels like it’s dangerous to try to be too prophetic.”
B.J. Hutto
Dedicated and creative lay leaders are vital to making the transition successful, said B.J. Hutto, senior pastor at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla. since October.
Hutto said his interview process included socially distanced outdoor dinners with four or five couples at a time and numerous Zoom meetings with other congregation members. “The idea was to provide some sort of touch where they could ask questions of my wife and get us all some face time. Through it all, I was actually getting to know people.”
The approach was laid out by search committee members and other lay leaders who have continued to ease his integration at Hendricks Avenue.
“The experience was certainly odd in a pandemic, but it was not as nearly as odd as it could have been without lay leadership that had its eye on the ball,” Hutto said.
First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga., also benefited from courageous lay leadership, new Senior Pastor Jeremy Shoulta said.
After an interview process that began in August 2019, Shoulta said his call Sunday was scheduled for March 2020.
Jeremy Shoulta
“Then everything started to get canceled. The NCAA tournament was canceled. The NBA season was canceled. And for those two weeks, I had one or two conversations with the pastor search committee at First Baptist Gainesville: Do we need to continue on with this, or should we pump the brakes and see how it plays out?”
Shoulta said he was willing to proceed. “Then they prayed about it and discussed it and felt strongly my call Sunday should proceed. I traveled to Gainesville and preached in view of a call in a mostly empty sanctuary.”
The experience has been a challenge — but not big enough to dissuade Shoulta and First Baptist to hire two more staff members during the pandemic, including an executive pastor.
“What I’ve learned from this is that a call can be accomplished virtually. And even though it’s not ideal, I would do it again in a heartbeat if it’s is the right person to help us accomplish our mission — pandemic or no pandemic.”