This Sunday, September 14th, we will be voting on a pastoral intern to join our team here at Prairie Flower Baptist Church. This is an exciting time in the life of our church as we envision further growth and progress. Below you will find some questions and answers concerning this pastoral intern position:

Question: Why are we inviting an intern instead of voting on a pastor?
Answer: Because slow is smooth and smooth is fast. In other words, considering our church has never had an Associate Pastor before, your leadership team (i.e. pastor and deacons) feel it is wise and necessary to proceed with this process of bringing on an intern first and revisit the issue of Associate Pastor at a later date.

Question: Who is this proposed pastoral intern?
Answer: His name is Jon Rocha and he is married to his lovely wife, Julia. Here is a quick biographical sketch of this possible intern:
1. He is 24 years old and was born in Davenport, IA.
2. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Studies (minor in Greek) from FBBC.
3. He is an Afghanistan War Veteran, having served two tours of duty over there.
4. He has nearly three years of youth group teaching experience at Willow Creek Baptist Church in West Des Moines, IA.
5. His honors and accomplishments include the Army Commendation Medal w/Valor and completion of Air Assault School.
6. He is a self-motivated problem solver, with excellent leadership skills. He is not a preacher. Thus, he will complement my skill set adequately.

Question: What specifically will he be doing?
Answer: He will predominantly work with our youth group two weekends a month till his graduation in May 2015. At that point, the church will revisit the issue of Associate Pastor and consider Jon for this position. His tasks will include teaching, organizing youth group activities, and light administrative duties. Again, youth group will only be meeting two (at the most three) times a month till May 2015.

Question: When will we meet and vote upon this intern?
Answer: He will be meeting with the teens and their parents this Saturday, September 13th. He will present himself to the whole congregation on Sunday, September 14th during a combined youth and adult Sunday School class and during the Morning Worship Service as he and his wife will present their testimonies. We will vote upon Jon as intern after the Morning Worship Service. His proposed salary package is $1,500 a month.

Also, in our endeavors to be more effective for Jesus Christ (i.e. reaching the lost and discipling believers), we have decided to continue the successful reformat of our Sunday services. Thus, Sunday School will be from 9:00-9:45 AM, Prairie Time will be from 9:45-10:15 AM, and the Morning Worship Service will kick off at about 10:15 AM. Bear in mind that this is an all morning format with no evening service. However, even with no evening service, there will always be structured and unstructured ministries taking place during the Sunday evening hours (i.e. Friendship Bible Study, nursing home ministries, etc.)

Also, in staying true to our core value of “intentional discipleship”, we will be launching “Growth Groups” on Sunday, October 26th. This will be a sermon-based small groups Bible study that will aid in our deepening relationship with Jesus Christ. Initially, Growth Groups will only meet once a month (i.e. the fourth Sunday of the month) for the next nine months. These groups will meet in various locations throughout our community (i.e. coffee shops, Hy-Vee, etc.)A sign-up sheet for Growth Groups will be available this Sunday, September 14th.

This is the way forward. Remember…we (i.e. your pastor and deacons) love you, we long to hear from you, and we will endeavor to communicate more often with you. Please be in prayer, and vote as the Lord leads, as we all seek to move forward for the glory of God!