Last week, while I was away in Austin, Kristi Phillips began her new position as the Director of Missions at Good Shepherd.
Don’t worry. They didn’t have to sneak that one by me.
I knew it was coming and am delighted about it.
Since 2007, Ron Dozier has been our Pastor of Missions & Community Impact. Earlier this year, we realized that we needed to leverage Ron’s relational gifts, as well as his desire to see people connect deeply into the life of the church, into the new role of Moss Campus Pastor. A happy consequence of that transition is that it has freed me up to spend a bit more time on message and series prep, as well as the forthcoming Simplify The Message; Multiply The Impact book.
With our “Ron as Campus Pastor” realization, we also determined that our mission and outreach areas no longer needed a pastor, per se, but someone with Director-type skills. Annabelle Suddreth assumed the role on an interim basis (she has now moved to a part time role in project management & data analytics), and so we advertised the new Director position.
Kristi emerged from a strong field of candidates and was the consensus pick. She is no stranger to Good Shepherd — in fact, she has been at the church LONGER THAN I HAVE! Which means that I’ve known her for 20 years and have long realized she had skills for ministry.
While managing successful career in the food brokerage business, Kristi served multiple volunteer roles at church, including Room In The Inn and the Charlotte Rescue Mission. She also laughed at the appropriate times during the sermons. All that involvement and loyalty went a long way into the team’s decision.
In her new role at Good Shepherd, Kristi has the joyful task of connecting the people of the church into opportunities to serve in love both locally and globally. So if you see her at either the Moss Campus or the Zoar Campus, give her a Good Shepherd welcome and, more importantly, ask how you can help her to help you invite all people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ.