Our Search for a Worship Pastor

written by Neal Thornton, Senior Pastor (November 8, 2023)

After eight years of service as our pastor of worship ministry, Jonathan Waggett resigned his position on October 10, 2023. As with all good ministry leaders, we miss him dearly as he served us so faithfully. Please see my post “Why We’ll Miss the Waggetts” as my way of speaking on behalf of a thankful congregation. 

Kayl Whitaker

Before his departure, Jonathan planned the Sunday morning services through the end of the year. To implement these plans, Jonathan secured Kayl Whitaker as a supply worship leader. Different from a potential “interim” who would cast vision and plan services, Kayl’s supply role is simply implementing pre-planned services. We acknowledge Pastor Jonathan’s departure preparations as a stroke of sound, pastoral leadership—for which we are grateful.

 Any time a church loses a public leader, there is an organizational and ministerial transition that takes place. Kayl is here to help with that transition. Keeping him and his ministry healthy is a key to success. Be sure to encourage and support him (and his wife Leighanne) as he spends time here at Coats Baptist. As an act of appropriate generosity, our church will compensate Kayl with a weekly honorarium according to the services he provides. Learn more about Kayl here.

 Worship Pastor Search and Committee

With Kayl in place, Coats Baptist is ready to search for their next worship pastor. And as we do, there are two ideas we must keep in mind - the need for the search, and the stress of the search. Both ideas inform the search rationale as delegated to the committee. ​

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