New Staff Structure & Alignment

Dear Church family, 

The last several months has been a season of planning for and anticipating changes in the leadership structure of our church. The restructuring of our Elder and Deacon Boards has been implemented as recommended by Leighton Ford Ministries (“LFM”, one of our consultants). Additionally, LFM encouraged us to consider changes within our staff team to better align our gifts and strengths to the ministries and needs of our church. Below is an overview of some changes we will be making to staff roles in this new season.

The staff and the elders have felt the absence of someone in the “Executive Pastor” role to help align our team with the missional priorities, or Ends, of our church. (The Ends are still being codified by the Elder Board – this is scheduled to take place in July at an Elder Board retreat). The elders had initially requested that our 2023-24 budget include room for us to hire someone into that role. That position will not be added, and Pastor Rodrigo Dinsmore and Greg Omland have been asked to cover that role’s responsibilities. They will both report directly to Jay Thomas and will lead the Ministry Leadership Team and Ministry Operations Team, respectively. 

In addition, we want to align our staff team to support and advance the priorities and work done by our working groups the past year. We are launching our parish model of care and community over the coming months and need someone to focus on those efforts. We are also taking a deep dive into what it means to be a member of a local church, and that, too, will require dedicated ownership by a staff member. Erin Bethany and Pastor Ryan McKee, respectively, will lead those efforts. 

This overview is intended to give you some of the background and motivators behind these shifts. A summary of various roles and responsibilities is below. New titles and roles will be in effect as of July 1st. Our staff has already begun this transition as we work through the details. 

We ask that you join us in prayer as we execute this plan to better serve our church’s current and future needs. We also hope that this helps provide clarity as to who is responsible for what at CHBC. Please note that this is not meant to be an exhaustive list of everything each person does but serves as an overview. This is also not an exhaustive list of our staff. Keep in mind that roles and responsibilities will change from time to time as needs and opportunities present themselves. 

We’ve included an FAQ section at the end of this post.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Has anything changed regarding the Lead Pastor (Jay Thomas) role?

Pastor Jay, as Lead Pastor, will continue to be the primary preacher and vision-caster for our church. He will now have two direct reports who are entrusted to lead the rest of the staff team to accomplish the Ends, as determined by the Elder Board. Under Policy Governance, the Lead Pastor will report directly to the Chair on behalf of the Elder Board.

What is the role of the Associate Pastor (Rodrigo Dinsmore)?

The Associate Pastor role is designed to take on aspects of the former Executive Pastor role, namely that of leading the Ministry Leadership Team (comprised of our Pastors, Ministers, and some Directors). His charge is to align the team and help them serve the church well and accomplish the Ends. He works in close partnership with the Lead Pastor, Elder Chair, Deacon Chair, and the Administrator to accomplish the vision and mission of the church.

What happens to the Missions Pastor role?

Pastor Roddy will continue to lead our Missions ministry. In his new role as Associate Pastor, he will further integrate the other ministry areas of the church to participate in missions. Whereas missions have always been an important part of who we are as a church, it will now also be an important part of the other ministry areas as well. We also look forward to further empowering our membership in the area of missions and believe that the establishment of parishes will facilitate that goal. 

We are shifting from a Community Pastor (Ryan McKee) to a Community Minister (Erin Bethany). Does this go against our Complementarian theology?

The Community role has been a Minister role in the past (prior to Ryan’s pastoral ordination) and we see this as being an organizational and systematic role in line with the “serving of the tables” found in Acts 6 (where we first see deacons partner with elders). This is functionally a deacon role which serves as an extension of the ministry of the elders. 

What will happen to our Women’s Ministry?

We are committed to nurturing and serving the women in our church and Erin Bethany will continue to lead those efforts. We anticipate that we will need more women to be identified and trained to help lead other women in this vital ministry. The Women’s Minister role is a key part of the broader Community Minister role, much like the Men’s Minister role has been and will continue to be part of Ryan’s role.

What is the role of the Spiritual Formation Pastor (Ryan McKee)?

Pastor Ryan will serve as the primary pastor to ensure that our membership is being holistically formed into the likeness of Jesus and abiding by our membership covenant to one another. He will be our primary (not sole) contact for pastoral care and counseling, ensuring that needs which require pastoral care and/or professional services are addressed. He will shepherd our caregivers that they may, in turn, provide good care for others. He will also continue to lead our Men’s Ministry and Life Groups Ministry.

What does the Family Pastor role entail (Matt Smith)?

Pastor Matt has served as the supervisor for both the Kids Minister and the Youth Minister roles and will continue to do so. In this season, he will directly lead Kids Ministry as we continue to actively recruit to fill our Kids Minister role. 

As the Family Pastor, Matt will provide leadership to the Kids and Youth Ministries while also helping parents form their children into Christ-likeness. This role allows one of our pastors to focus on the largest evangelistic field in our church community, our kids and youth who have not yet professed faith in Christ!

Our Young Adult population is growing! Who will provide leadership for that?

Martin Shin will continue to lead our College Ministry and will maintain that as his priority. In addition, he will provide staff leadership for the Young Adults Ministry, ably assisted by a wonderful team of young adult leaders. We are thrilled to invest in these men and women and help them flourish at CHBC.