It has been my privilege to serve you in the capacity of leading our Pastor Search Committee (“PSC”). The men and women elected to comprise the PSC have been dedicated and faithful in executing the task at hand. Our time together was marked by mutual respect and growing friendships.

Most of all, I saw Christian people taking their job seriously and with the utmost of respect for the high calling of identifying the Senior Pastor candidate for our beloved church.

For some of you, our recommendation of Rev. Tim Frickenschmidt might first appear to be too obvious an outcome from this process. Rest assured that Tim was, in all ways, scrutinized more carefully than any other outside candidate. Tim invited this investigation. The Book of Church Order calls for a higher level of approval for an existing staff member. The PSC demanded it in the overall best interest of our congregation.

After 100’s of hours of consideration, prayer, analysis, conversation, and debate, it is with a unanimous vote of the PSC that we recommend Rev. Tim Frickenschmidt to be our Senior Pastor.

Steve Malachowski

PSC PROCESS + RATIONALE REPORT

For those of you relatively new to All Saints, this committee was nominated and selected by congregational ballot. We have been meeting together weekly for approximately nine months. As you heard last week, beyond these regular meetings, hundreds of collective hours have been spent in reading documents submitted by applicants, listening to sermons, engaging in phone conversations, interviewing, and traveling to meet face to face with pastors. I want you to know that we have sought out, and received, and processed a lot of thoughtful counsel from many wise people over the last nine months. We have worked through not just “who do we want to hire?” but “how do we approach this process?” If you have thought things were moving slowly, in part at least, that was because we have been taking this very seriously.

From the first our task was unusual in that we had an excellent candidate within our body. And yet from the beginning we agreed that it was proper to make a thorough search for other men God might be calling to serve Him among us. So we spoke to anyone who cared to offer suggestions of any kind regarding our process, and we were open to all kinds of possible candidates.

I understand some folks inferred from last week’s announcement that we were still a long way off from having a recommendation for the congregation to consider. That’s not exactly what Steve M. said. He counseled patience, and he said that as of last Sunday we did not have a recommendation. He also said he hoped to have one sooner rather than later.

During this week our committee found ourselves ready to vote on one candidate. This past Wednesday we voted; and we now have a recommendation to make. The timing of this vote and today’s announcement with the recent and significant update regarding Bill Boyd’s trial is purely coincidental. Regardless, we reached a decision this week and this is the time to pass it on to you. The Pastor Search Committee is pleased to announced we decided unanimously to recommend Tim Frickenschmidt be approved by congregational vote as the next senior pastor of All Saints.

Understandably, many of you might like to know more about the process leading up to this decision. At the session’s request the PSC will compose and publish a more thorough synopsis of our process, including how we approached interviewing and examining Tim. You can expect to receive such a document soon after the New Year. In addition, we will be pleased to speak with anyone who has questions. Please contact any of us and we will arrange a meeting. It is our service to Christ to answer any questions you have. It is not a burden to us. Please come, ask.

Last, please accept our thanks for your prayers for this committee. Thank you also for the encouraging words of hope and appreciation and for the honest feedback you have given to each of us. Above all we are thankful to our King who we know by faith. His mercies are new every morning, and he delights to give good gifts to his people. He has given Tim Frickenschmidt many beautiful gifts for use in service to the gospel. He has given Tim and Elissa to All Saints for the past five years. And He has given this committee the unanimity to recommend Tim to the congregation with great joy, and much thanksgiving.

My name is Stephen Hurd and I serve on our Session. The Session has had one of its members serve as a liaison to the PSC since its inception to help them in their task and to help facilitate good communications between the PSC and Session. Gene Kummerer served in that role until he began a sabbatical. I then have had the privilege in serving in that role since September. I have been to the majority of their meetings. So let me first of all again express our appreciation and gratitude to the members of the committee who have put in hundreds if not thousands of hours to come up with this recommendation. Under Steve Malachowski’s leadership, the dynamics that I have observed have been incredibly effective in doing what they have been called to do. They have been diligent in their efforts to understand what our congregation needs at this point. Next they have surveyed the country for Pastors that might be a good fit for us. At the same time they have evaluated how Tim, with his gifts, strengths, and weaknesses, might “fit” with our congregation’s needs and sense with him God’s calling. While we acknowledge that God is ultimately in control of this whole process, it has been a great encouragement to see how seriously and faithfully these men and women have served and taken their responsibility in the process.

The Session asked the PSC in August to consider Tim’s candidacy early in the process. We asked them if it was possible to give Tim and the Session a good idea of his standing as a candidate or even an up or down answer to his candidacy by the end of this year. We believed this was the best approach to be fair to Tim and the other candidates. Although this was a tall order for the committee, we had confidence in them and God’s work that this was feasible. This may help explain to you the timing of their recommendation this month. They made their decision after looking at other candidates and having a good sense for who was out there. One of their last diligences on Tim’s candidacy was a meeting with the Session this last week. This came after the Session had met individually with our senior staff members, Greg, Benjie, Melissa, and Gate, to get their thoughts on Tim as a potential Senior Pastor. The committee seemed quite ready to make their decision at this point and saw no need to delay it until after the New Year.

The PSC’s job is to make a recommendation to the Congregation, and they are recommending Tim to you as the next Senior Pastor. As a Session, it is now our job to organize the rest of the process in accord with our denomination’s policy and its Book of Church Order. One thing we need to emphasize in this regard is that the process is not complete. It depends crucially on all of you. Neither the PSC nor the Session is empowered to choose the next Senior Pastor. Only you can do that, and the process works as intended only if each one of you take that responsibility seriously. The upcoming vote should not be a “rubber stamp” approval, but an opportunity for prayerful and thoughtful consideration of Tim as a candidate. Part of our responsibility is to give you more information on the PSC’s diligence and to provide you the opportunity to interact with both Tim and the PSC in the process.

Here is how we see the process unfolding. Beginning now, we encourage you to continue to pray, focusing more particularly on Tim as the PSC’s recommended candidate. Meanwhile, the PSC’s job is not over. We have asked them to put together a written document about Tim and the process leading to this recommendation. We hope to give you a good sense of how they came to their conclusion and how they addressed various potential concerns about Tim. After the holidays, we intend to schedule a few small group opportunities for you to interact with both the PSC and Tim himself so that you can have your own questions answered firsthand. The PSC and Session members will also be available individually to help answer concerns and questions.

All of this is preparation for the more formal process specified by the BCO. The first step in that formal process is for us, the Session, to work out the financial and other details of a formal call with Tim. We will then schedule a congregational meeting at which you will be asked to vote on that call. We expect this vote to take place on a Sunday in the next month or two to allow plenty of time for our congregation to prepare for their vote. This will be no “ordinary” Sunday. We will ask Tim to preach a “candidating” sermon just as we would any other candidate. As a current Assistant Pastor at All Saints, the BCO requires that he receive at least 80% of the congregational vote to confirm the call. If he is approved by the congregation, the call will go to the South Texas Presbytery for confirmation and acceptance. This should be considered at their next regular meeting in January or April. Once he is approved by Presbytery, we will schedule a service where Tim will be formally installed as our Senior Pastor. We will likely celebrate that occasion with a family meal.

As a Session we are greatly encouraged by the way the process has played out to date, and look forward to seeing God’s hand in the process as it continues. We as Session members support Tim and the PSC’s recommendation of him as our next Senior Pastor. We trust God and see Him in the process and deliberation of the committee and we trust God to work through you the congregation as you do your part. We have been very pleased with the way Tim has led the church during this interim period of a year and four months. We would be very glad and privileged to work alongside him on the Session if he is ultimately selected as the next Senior Pastor of All Saints.

Since our last update, we have been busy – reading resumes, talking with potential candidates, reading ministry philosophies, listening to sermons, and praying for wisdom, patience and leading in our search for our new Senior Pastor. We are making progress, but we are not able to say much more than this due to the confidential nature of this part of the process. It is a privilege to serve our church on your behalf; thank you for entrusting this important responsibility to us. Please continue to pray for the PSC and the men we are pursuing, their families and their present congregations.

Along with the first taste of fall, we have begun a new phase in our process of finding a new senior pastor. We are in touch with prospective candidates (as well as numerous other individuals for recommendations for potential candidates). Interested applicants review our website and then provide their resume, Ministerial Data Form, or curriculum vitae. Sometime next week the website will have a special section for applicants; we’ll let you know when it is available for you to take a look, too.

Please pray that we will look carefully at each candidate and be tender to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The PSC is refining the process for interacting with potential candidates. We invite any in our congregation to nominate individuals for candidacy or to provide other input by contacting us. Please continue to pray for us, for those we will be in contact with during our process, and for the man God is calling to be our Senior Pastor.

The Session invited the PSC into their meeting on Sunday to discuss aspects of the pastor search process and to shepherd our committee.

On Wednesday evening, the PSC gathered to spend extended time meeting together. Ruling elder Stephen Hurd attended as a Session liaison. Hurd delivered a draft of the vision statement and a preliminary job description of the Senior Pastor position.

We have continued to review and synthesize the results of the Congregational Input Questionnaire. While the quantity and diversity of your honest and thoughtful responses have been a bit daunting, your input has helped our committee to have a clearer and deeper understanding of our congregation for us to convey to potential candidates.

Lastly, the PSC has begun making initial contact with candidates. We invite any in our congregation to nominate individuals for candidacy or to provide other input by contacting us via the PSC email address (psc@allsaintsaustin.org). Thank you for your continued prayers that All Saints may glorify God and love one another well–in our Pastor search and in all things.