New Life Church Chooses A Replacement for Ted Haggard

[NP SCOOP! Dig it.]

It seems like it took them forever, but the pastoral selection committee has selected a candidate to replace the fallen Ted Haggard as the senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

First off, here is a recap of what goes on in the Pastoral Selection Committee and what is needed to confirm the candidate for Senior Pastor.

From a New Life Church email written by Lance Cole:

As a reminder, here is how the selection process works. The Pastoral Selection Committee is responsible for researching, interviewing, selecting and presenting one and only one candidate to the Board of Overseers of New Life Church. With their approval, that candidate may speak in every service for up to three weeks. Then, the voting members of the congregation (those with a 2006 giving record) will gather for a meeting where each will be allowed to cast an up or down vote. A 2/3 majority is required to elect the candidate as the next Sr. Pastor. While we are not endeavoring to expedite this process ahead of God's timing, nor are we in anyway dragging our feet, we are well ahead of the national average of 18-36 months that churches usually take to go through this transition.

So who is it going to be? The answer is Brady Boyd, an associate pastor from Gateway Church in Southlake, TX. From the pics I can come up with by Google stalking him he looks fairly straight and free of illegal drugs. Good lookin', very pastoral guy.

Gateway Church:

Brady Boyd oversees a segment of the staff and ministries of Gateway Church as part of the Senior Pastoral Team, which includes Gateway Groups. He is also one of the primary communicators on the Gateway team, preaching often in the weekend services and to the leaders and ministry staff of the church.

Brady has a passion for training and releasing leaders. He frequently ministers in area churches and enjoys equipping leaders in the areas of prophecy, leadership, church health and small group ministry.

Before coming to Gateway in March 2001, Brady served as the Senior Pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church in Hereford, Texas. He is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University and has experience in television and radio broadcasting as well as sales management.

Brady and his wife, Pam, have two children: Abram and Callie.

Comments

[Non-Prophet]

And here is the list email that came out a few minutes ago:

Dear New Life Church family and friends,

The Pastoral Selection Committee (PSC) has spent the past eight months diligently seeking the Lord's guidance for our next senior pastor. After cumulative weeks of discussion and dozens of hours of interviews, we have selected Pastor Brady Boyd, whom we believe is qualified, gifted, and anointed to fill that role.

Brady is an associate senior pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas. Before coming to Gateway in 2001, Pastor Brady served as the senior pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church in Hereford, Texas. After meeting with him extensively, we believe his heart and vision align closely with the heart and vision of New Life Church. He has strong leadership gifts, significant experience and training in senior pastoral ministry, and a passion for teaching the Scriptures. He is a man of character, proven experience, and good reputation. I am pleased to say that our committee, comprised of men and women of various backgrounds and diverse opinions, has agreed to recommend Brady to be the next senior pastor of New Life Church.

According to our bylaws, the PSC is charged with choosing a suitable candidate for the senior pastor position. The board of overseers must then approve the candidate before he is recommended to the church. After that, he will speak in all of the weekend services for three weeks, and then the congregation will vote whether to accept him as the new senior pastor; a two-thirds positive vote is required.

Brady has met with the overseers and they enthusiastically approved him; soon our church family will have the opportunity to meet him as well. Brady's first Sunday with us will be August 12. During the three weeks of his candidacy, we will host "family meetings" during the Sunday evening services. These gatherings will provide opportunities for our church family to get to know Brady in a relaxed question-and-answer setting. Ultimately, the membership will convene on Monday, August 27 for the vote.

I look forward to the opportunity for you to meet Brady; until then, we have provided information about him on our website-- http://www.newlifechurch.org. This coming Sunday, August 5, Pastor Larry Stockstill will be here to share with us from the Word of God and help focus us forward.

Finally, on behalf of the entire PSC let me offer my sincere thanks for your prayers, encouragement, input, patience, and support. This decision is not one we have taken lightly, and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve you, our church family.

Humbled to serve God with you all,

Lance Coles
PSC Chairman

[meg]

he's definitely not as creepy looking as ol' Teddy.

[Zen]

I say good luck to them. From what I read of Brady Boyd, he's the kind of guy who encourages an inward spiritual focus, rather than being politically outspoken. And that's what I think New Life truly needs.

[joshMshep]

Before I came to New Life, I attended Gateway Church in Dallas... very happening place. Grew from 150 people to 10,000 in 6 years. But apart from the numbers, it's a place of true worship and seeking God. Brady has supported that vision for years; I look forward to what God has in store for New Life Church.

peace,
-joshMshep

[luke]

I go to Gateway - Brady is awesome!! He's gonna be a big loss to us but huge gain to New Life - enjoy!!

[JimHinCO]

Best wishes to New Life. As a resident here in Colo Springs, many from my family and many friends attend New Life. The really want someone non-political.

[Hal]

The great news is that the New Life board didn't choose Brady, when the church votes in 4 weeks they will not be responsible for choosing Brady, God is the one that chose Brady. That's why it will work. Because he is God's man for the job.

[RedWolf]

Good to see some Gateway folks out here. As a New Lifer, I'm excited to learn more about Pastor Brady, and I look forward to hearing him preach in a week or so. And I too am glad that perhaps we will not be so heavily involved in the politics. Kind of nice to go to church and focus on spiritual things and relationships with others.

RedWolf

[Zen]

I wonder if you said that about Ted Haggard too, Hal. I wonder if that kind of thinking hastened his demise. Be careful claiming you know God's thoughts. Beware forcing your ministers to ride the high horse. Let Brady be Brady - the rest take its course.

[Shar]

My family has attended Gateway Church for nearly 2 years. Pastor Brady has a servant's heart, a tremendous sense of humor and he has a way of presenting God's word in a very real and relevant way. Hs teaching has ministered to me many times over the past 2 years, especially the one titled "The Battle for Our Courage", "Worship and the Coming Rains" and more recently his series entitled "Heaven: Paradise Found." I encourage anyone that wants to know more about him to listen to these messages from his website www.pastorbrady.com. I am sad that he is leaving Gateway; however, Our loss is New Life's gain!! He will definitely be missed. We wish him all God's blessings in his future endeavors and believe New Life will truly be blessed by Pastor Brady and his family.

[GSM Gateway]

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