Staff Leadership Changes (Part 2)

I am very happy (actually, quite exhilarated) to announce that Kent O'Grady has agreed to serve on staff as our Small Groups Ministry Coordinator. If you don't know Kent, he's the one who shared his faith story on Easter. You can watch it below.

Here's a picture of Kent arresting me for excessive eating at the State Fair. I hear this is what happens when someone misses his small group meeting without an excused absence.

This is a great win for Five Oaks and our small groups ministry for several reasons:

• Kent is an extraordinary small group leader, serving in that capacity for years at Five Oaks.
• Kent is an outstanding leader, teacher and trainer. Kent recently retired as a Major in the State Patrol, one of four Majors who report to the Colonel leading the Patrol.
• Kent gets Five Oaks and our emphasis on small groups like no one else I know. 
• This will free up our new Hudson Campus Pastor from having hands-on, day-to-day oversight of our Adult Ministries so he can focus more on taking the Hudson campus to the next level of ministry impact and growth and so he can focus more on preparing weekend messages as part of the preaching team.  
• Kent's proven ability and vision for developing leaders through coaching, encouraging, training, and equipping will have a huge impact on our small groups ministries. 

Be sure to welcome Kent in his new role.

Here's Kent's faith story we played in our Easter services.

Staff Leadership Changes at Five Oaks (Part 1)

Earlier this week our Hudson Campus Pastor/Adult Ministries Director and my friend Keith Miraldi announced his resignation and shared about his future plans. Keith will continue to lead the Hudson Campus through mid-July.

Here is the content of my letter to the Hudson congregation. What I share also has a big impact on our Woodbury congregation, so please take the time to read it. Tomorrow I will share our plans for Five Oaks Adult Ministries and Small Groups. I have a very special announcement you won't want to miss.

Well, by now you have read Keith's letter informing you about his plans. I am going to miss having Keith on staff. He is not only a great team player, he is a friend. I am always glad when I see Keith's car in the parking lot at the office whenever I pull in. He's a joy to be around.

I am writing you to say that while I'm very sad to see Keith go, I'm very hopeful about the future of the Hudson Campus. Why is that? For one, I've met with most of the key campus leaders and the whole Hudson Leadership Team to talk about our next steps, and every one one of them have indicated that this will not deter them or our campus from its mission. 

I'm also very hopeful about the future because of the opportunity this transition affords us. And Keith is in full agreement that this is a great opportunity for Five Oaks Hudson. We have already launched a nation-wide search for a Campus Pastor that will serve on the Five Oaks preaching team, will focus his ministry on the Hudson Campus and will live in the Hudson area. We are looking for a leader with a proven track record and an ability to communicate to the whole of the Five Oaks congregation as a preacher. He is someone who gets our DNA, embraces it and then runs with it in Hudson, applying it in ways that will often look different than the Woodbury Campus but equally as effective on the basics of our mission.

If anyone is wondering about our long-term commitment to this campus, let the facts speak for themselves: we are investing tens of thousands of dollars in this search, using a high caliber pastoral search firm (The Vanderbloemen Group) to help us find the best and most qualified leader. As part of our strategic ministry plan we are requiring our non-Hudson staff, Board and Elders to make regular visits to the Hudson Campus to create greater lines of communication and forge stronger relational bonds between our campuses. And we are committed to providing in-person preaching 40% of the time (even though I know it is a little disappointing when you discover I'm not Paul Bunyan size in real life). We would not be making these kind of investments if we did not truly believe in a bright future for this campus and it's potential for reaching many more people for Christ.

We will be forming a search committee that will include many of you at the Hudson Campus to evaluate the top three or four candidates presented by the Vanderbloemen Group and to give crucial input into the final choice.

I will be preaching in-person on the Sunday of the Hudson Campus picnic (June 5). I'll share a little more about my hopes for the future on that Sunday. Lois will be with me as well for the service and the picnic. This will be a great time to corner me and ask away with any questions you might have. But I'm also available to meet for coffee or visit your small group if you would like to talk. My email is hwilliams@fiveoakschurch.org.

I have more to say, but this is already overly long. Just one last thing, though. Be in prayer about this whole process and for the campus in the interim. We want God's man for this task. You can also pray knowing that summers are challenging already for smaller congregations. Fortunately we are blessed to have Keith with us through mid-July, we have the combined campus service at the bandshell July 24, and we hope to have the new Campus Pastor in place by early September.

God bless you all.

In Christ,

Pastor Henry