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NEW NEEDS, NEW STAFF TRANSITIONS
Over the coming months, several staff transitions will help us address ministry needs and invest in the future of DSC. After considerable prayer and discussion, the elders are grateful to share a plan involving four areas of ministry and four people whose gifts and faithfulness we have already seen.
These changes are connected: giving one person greater focus creates responsibilities for someone else to assume. Together, they reflect our desire to develop leaders, care for our congregation, and send workers to serve beyond DSC.
Leadership Development: Alex Schroeder
At our February elders retreat, we recognized the need to give more attention to identifying, training, and developing leaders within our church. We already do some of this, but as our church grows and prepares to plant another church, we need to invest more deliberately in future elders, ministry leaders, church planters, and missionaries.
We believe Alex is particularly well suited to lead this work. He will continue as Discipleship Pastor, overseeing Community Groups, men’s and women’s ministries, Equipping Classes, and other discipleship areas, but we will transfer several administrative responsibilities to give him more time for leadership development.
Over the past four years, Alex has carried substantial ministry and administrative responsibilities with faithfulness and skill. He has built out our Equipping Hour and led leadership training initiatives (many behind the scenes) that have borne significant fruit. We are grateful for his work and excited to give him more time for work in which he has demonstrated particular gifts.
Pastoral Assistant: Ben Hobbs
Beginning January 1, Ben will transition from Youth Minister to Pastoral Assistant. This restores a staff position we’ve had in the past, and it meets several connected needs.
Ben will assist Alex, Drew, and Ryan and assume administrative responsibilities for outward-facing ministries, such as the Clarus Conference, our Gospel Coalition regional chapter, and the Simeon Trust Preaching Workshop for area pastors. This will help free Alex for greater investment in leadership development.
Ben will also become one of our primary preachers alongside Alex. As Chase prepares to leave next spring to plant Resurrection Church, we need someone to help cover the sermons he would ordinarily preach. Ben’s preaching gifts have become increasingly evident, not least through his Sunday sermons.
This role will also give Ben broader pastoral experience and opportunities to develop as a preacher and leader. Lord willing, it could help prepare him to serve as a preaching pastor in the future.
For four years, Ben has loved, taught, and discipled our students and invested in their families. He has done a terrific job. This transition reflects our gratitude for his faithfulness and our desire to continue developing the gifts we have seen in him.
Youth and Young Adults: Tate Madzima
With Ben’s transition, Tate will become Youth Pastor while also providing pastoral oversight for our young adult ministry.
Tate has faithfully led and shaped children’s ministry for five years. Through countless Sundays, he has equipped volunteers, cared for children, supported families, and discipled parents. Our children’s ministry is stronger because of his leadership, and we are deeply grateful for his work.
This is also a fitting season for Tate to move into youth ministry. His own children are beginning to enter the youth-group years, and his interests and gifts have increasingly drawn him toward ministry with students.
Tate will continue providing pastoral and elder oversight for children’s ministry while transferring its weekly administration, organization, and logistics to …
Children’s Ministry: Cara Pilgreen
Cara Pilgreen will become our part-time Director of Children’s Ministry, taking responsibility for its day-to-day leadership and administration.
Cara has faithfully served alongside Tate as Administrative Assistant. She knows the in-and-outs of our families, volunteers, and ministry systems, and has demonstrated sustained care for the children and families she serves. This transition recognizes her gifts and entrusts her with greater responsibility. We are excited to see her lead with Tate’s continued pastoral oversight. We also know she’ll work well with our Deacon of special events childcare, Scott Pilgreen!
Reasons for Prayer and Gratitude
These changes will require adjustment, and we recognize that some members will feel them more deeply than others. Please pray for Alex, Ben, Tate, Cara, and the ministries they will help lead. Please extend patience as they settle into their responsibilities, and cheer them on!
There is much to celebrate here. Every one of these transitions involves someone who already knows our church, shares our convictions and culture, and has already served DSC so well.
As we prepare to send Chase, Sandy, Dan, and dozens of DSC members to plant Resurrection Church, new needs arise here. These are needs we welcome: we want to develop leaders, send workers, and raise up more behind them.
God has kindly provided faithful people among us, and we are grateful.
With great affection for you all,
– Pastor Ryan (on behalf of the elders)
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