CHURCH LIFE
A New Season of Leadership for CPC
O
JOHN MITCHELL’S WORDS
An Update from the Personnel Committee
ver the last 15 months, amidst a challenging financial environment, the CPC Personnel Committee has worked hard to make the staffing of CPC’s leadership more efficient. Through a season of careful discernment, two patterns emerged. First, after the COO position was eliminated in January 2009, the Executive Pastor became loaded with so many supervisory reports that it became overwhelming. Second, we perceived an increased need for leadership, management, and development of the staff, beginning with the Coordinating Team, comprised of ministry department heads. These two factors led John Crosby and the Personnel Committee to inform Jesse McLeod, our Executive Pastor, of the need to restructure his position, with a transition for him off staff by January 1, 2012. Jesse has been incredibly gracious through this process and continues to supervise the operations staff even as he searches for a new role. Jesse has provided four wonderful years of leadership and, as he helps tirelessly with this transition, is an exceptional role model. The Personnel Committee worked with People Management, an executive search firm for larger churches, through this discernment process, with an eye for initiating a search for a new Executive Pastor. Once the decision of Jesse McLeod’s departure was completed, two extremely high-caliber candidates from the core of the church expressed interest in helping CPC through the transition.
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One member, John Mitchell, felt led to make a more permanent commitment. The Personnel Committee met with John Mitchell, who also had a series of meetings with John Crosby and the People Management team. Early in September, the Personnel Committee extended an offer to John Mitchell to become the new Executive Pastor. John Mitchell, his wife, Quay, and their three daughters, Caitlin, Holly, and Chloe, have been active in this congregation for nearly two decades. Many of us have come to know John and Quay through their leadership of CPC’s Feed My Starving Children events, their role as House Hosts for Student Ministries, and their service as elders. Countless CPCers have experienced community through the Mitchells’ hospitality, as they open their home for pre-marital workshops, new member events, and more. John Crosby says, “Laura and I have been privileged to call the Mitchells some of our closest friends — although anyone who has seen John Mitchell at a Session meeting knows he speaks his mind, to me or anyone involved!” John will begin his role as Executive Pastor in January 2012, using the autumn to wind up his business commitment and lay some relational groundwork with staff and the Finance and Personnel Committees. Join us in welcoming John into this new role and thanking Jesse McLeod for his exemplary service and faithfulness.
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“In early 1996 I was contemplating leaving a comfortable job as a partner at KPMG and starting a new consulting company. I called up John Crosby and asked for his counsel. He listened, prayed for me and my family, and was encouraging. A few weeks later he gave me a book called Half Time – Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance. Fifteen plus years later, the seed germinated as I made a decision to retire from that consulting company in December 2011 to pursue a second career where I could focus on the Great Commission. That led to another set of conversations with John and others on the CPC Session and an exciting opportunity to serve CPC as Executive Pastor. With the encouragement of my family and business partners, I am blessed to be able to serve the Lord and CPC in my “Second Half.” Through this church, we routinely experience God’s grace and infinite love for His people. At CPC, I truly have been inspired to follow Jesus, love others, and live missionally.”
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