First Presbyterian Church PNC presents Reverend Joe Evans

The Pastor Nominating Committee of First Presbyterian Church Marietta, Georgia

Joyfully introduces the Reverend Joe Evans May 21, 2017

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ at FPC Marietta, Your Pastor Nominating Committee has been most honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve our Lord and this congregation in the search for our next Senior Pastor. From the beginning, each person on the PNC has sensed the necessity for a prayerful, respectful, and in depth approach to each and every candidate evaluated. The entire committee was profoundly aware of the absolute need to trust this process to God and to await the final result revealed in God’s own time.

At the completion of many written and spoken communications, numerous online sermon evaluations, Skype interviews, visits to home churches of candidates, candidate visitation to our own church and community, and background and reference checks, the committee has witnessed what is convincingly God’s revelation for this outcome.

The PNC is very thankful, very excited, and very proud to make this special person known to you, selected as the nominee to be the next Senior Pastor and Head of Staff at this historic and great Presbyterian church—our home church!

We are most grateful for your trust and your many, many prayers. Thanks be to God for leading us to this wonderful man whom we will know as our beloved pastor and friend!

Respectfully, Mary Margaret Doyle Brent Law Paul Phillips, Vice Chair

Jim Goodlet, Chair Karl Maassen Lynne Sloop 2

Katherine Harrison Cat Mew Nancy Tatnall

Reflections From Colleagues and Friends Joe Evans is a brilliant pastor, preacher, teacher, leader, and encourager. He loves God, understands people, is self-aware, generous, and wise. He also has a beautiful family that he adores. God will surely bring joy to your church through Joe. Rev. Dana Hughes, Moderator, Presbytery of Greater Atlanta (2012), mentor and friend

Joe is a mature, confident, Christian leader. He is anchored theologically and he is a good man. Joe’s faith is central to who he is. It is real. He is real.

Rev. Dr. Todd Jones, Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee Over these past twelve years, Joe has greatly enriched our lives with his teachings of our Lord's word and his meaningful, heartfelt prayers. He strives to live as a loving example to all of God's people, regardless of age or background. His beaming smile and positive approach to daily life are a gift to all who know him.

George and Ladson Kesler, Clerk of Session and members of former church

Joe is a wonderful human being, great preacher, great leader. People still talk about him at Columbia Seminary. He leaves a lasting impression. He is a faithful minister. He understands leadership and understands how to work with people. I don't give glowing reviews to everyone. Joe is [in the] top 1%.

Dr. Brennan Breed, Assistant Professor, Columbia Theological Seminary Joe is open, accepting, and even gleams. People quickly feel that they have known him for a long time due to his genuine warmth. This is a rare and important gift for a pastor.

Rev. Dr. John Todd, retired, mentor and friend

I knew Joe Evans through working with the first call pastors' program of Atlanta presbytery. He impressed me with his energy, cheerfulness and love for the church. I also knew him by reputation as the associate pastor of the Good Shepherd Presbyterian where I formerly served as interim pastor. The people there loved Joe to distraction and grieved deeply when he was called to Tennessee. I believe Joe and his family will be just the addition to the church family that FPC Marietta needs now. God is good!

Rev. Dr. Joan Gray, Interim Pastor of First Presbyterian Marietta, Moderator, General Assembly of the PCUSA (2006-2008)

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Getting to Know Joe and Sara Evans The Rev. Joseph Belton Evans is a native of Georgia. He was baptized at Morningside Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, and was confirmed and nurtured here at First Presbyterian Church of Marietta.

Rev. Evans graduated from Presbyterian College in 2002, earning a B.A. in religion and history, and Columbia Theological Seminary in 2006, where he was nominated for the “David H. C. Reed Preacher/Scholar” award. He has been accepted into the Doctorate of Ministry program at Columbia Theological Seminary.

Our Senior Pastor Candidate was ordained into the office of Minister of Word and Sacrament here at First Presbyterian Church, Marietta in March of 2007. From ordination until 2010, he served Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Lilburn, Georgia as Associate Pastor of Mission and Outreach, then as Interim Senior Pastor. Since 2011 he has served as Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, Tennessee. In both of these churches he contributed to increases in giving and membership, as well as to deficit reductions. Our references have documented his continued growth both administratively and in his preaching abilities, one of his greatest passions.

As a dedicated member of his presbyteries, our nominee has participated in many committees, including the Committee on Ministry, Transitions Sub-Committee, and the Executive Presbyter Nominating Committee.

In his Columbia community, Rev. Evans co-founded the Stand Together Fellowship for One Community United, a multi-racial/multi-denominational group of clergy and leaders whose goal is working for racial unity and reconciliation. He also serves on the King’s Daughters’ School Board – a residential school for children with disabilities.

Rev. Evans received the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award and partnered with his local Church of Christ pastor in Columbia to present “Who’s Got It Right?”, a community event addressing the issues of division within the religious community.

This outstanding young pastor reaches beyond his own congregation and community through publications and other media. Rev. Evans has served as editor of Lectionary Homiletics, and has contributed to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Journal for Preachers, The Daily Herald, The Silver Cross (A publication of the King’s Daughters’ organization), and Lectionary Homiletics. Six times he has been the featured preacher on Day 1 (formerly “The Protestant Hour”), an internationally syndicated radio show.

Joe met Sara Hernandez at Presbyterian College. They were married in 2002. Sara is from Spartanburg, South Carolina, and earned her Master of Social Work (MSW) degree at the University of Georgia. Sara has been active in various non-profit organizations, including Action Ministries in Atlanta where she did development and grant writing, and as the executive director of the Columbia Children’s Museum. Most recently Sara has served as a mediator and as a CASA volunteer coordinator (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for foster children in the court system. Joe and Sara have two beautiful young daughters, Lily, age 8, and Cecelia (CeCe) age 5, who will be entering third and first grades respectively. This family loves music, art, sports, and the outdoors.

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Statement of Faith I believe that the Triune God who created this earth continues to be present in the workings of this earth today. I believe that God’s desire to be present in this earth for His created people is best evidenced in the fully human, fully God, Jesus Christ, who died for my sins and for the sins of all people. To use the words of John Calvin, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have been “effectually united” to Jesus Christ, and we may therefore look forward to the glory of life eternal.

I believe that the Bible testifies to the truth of our God, the One who delivered the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, made them a covenant people, and brought them into the promised land. When they turned away, our God called them back by speaking through the prophets. We are heirs to that covenant. This same God fulfilled the covenant through Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection. Jesus Christ is the sure sign that the God of creation has redeemed us and sustains us still by the mighty workings of the Holy Spirit.

As a member of the Reformed Tradition, I believe that it is God, present among us by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is working toward the Kingdom. It is only God who can make this promise of the Kingdom a reality.

It has become a tradition among Reformed theologians to offer two essential characteristics of God. James Cone offers “freedom and righteousness,” and Shirley Guthrie offers “freedom and love.” The claim that God is always free and always loving is especially important for my personal faith. I have always heard that “God so loved the world that he gave His only son” but to interpret that claim in the light of Guthrie’s two essential characteristics helps me to understand that the mighty work of salvation made real through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a gift freely given out of love. This sacrifice was not an obligation, but was, above all else, an act of love. Because God is free, God was able to live among us in the person of Jesus Christ, and because God is love, I can know that God wanted to live among us in the person of Jesus Christ. This truth is the most powerful piece of knowledge that is in my head and in my heart, and while this radical freedom and radical love still defies my understanding and remains to some degree a mystery, the truth that Jesus Christ lived and died among us shows God’s free love for us and deepest desire that we be reconciled and saved.

I believe that we, the Church, created in the image of God, redeemed by Jesus Christ, and sustained by the Holy Spirit, are called to model this kind of freedom and love through our words and deeds. We testify to the truth of the Gospel when we live the life God has called us to, serving each other, lifting each other up, forgiving each other, seeing each other as blessed children of God, and by modeling our lives, not according to the standards of the world, but by the standards of the Kingdom of God.

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Sense of Call to First Presbyterian Marietta I first felt the nudge towards ministry as a member of the Youth Group at First Presbyterian Church, Marietta. It was in service, building houses in Mexico, that I felt most alive and most purposeful. As a high school student at the Montreat Youth Conference, I heard the Word proclaimed, and it felt like it was directed at me.

All of this I reported to Dr. Jim Speed in 1998. It was his practice to meet with graduating High School Seniors on their way out into the world. I also told him that I would be attending Presbyterian College where I would major in religion in preparation for ordained ministry. Dr. Speed looked me in the eye and he said, “Joe, take this decision very seriously.

You’re talking about being a part of every person’s most important relationship, between them and their God.” This description of ordained ministry so terrified me that I decided to major in history instead. I knew then that there was no way I would ever measure up to such a calling.

But I still felt the call. The next time was on a subway in New York City, and I continued to wrestle with the ministry, wondering, “Could God really want me?”

This call to First Marietta means so much to me, mostly because I can’t hide behind a resume. This PNC knows much more about me than what’s printed on my Personal Information Form or what they’ve heard in recorded sermons. This church knows who I truly am. They knew me as a confirmand who spent more meetings behind the church at the railroad tracks than in the actual building. They knew me as a high school student who wandered from the fold. They have watched me grow, and yet they call me anyway.

I feel so affirmed in my ministry because this church has called me. And, knowing this church’s history, I hope and pray that I can be a steady leader, bridging divides, and representing the love of God to them as they have to me.

Looking Forward Monday, July 24 First day in the office

Sunday, July 30 First Sunday in the pulpit

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