Senior Pastor Updates

Latest Update:
January 22, 2023

It is with great joy and with thanksgiving to our Lord that we share with you that we now have a new Senior Pastor! Pastor Josh Wootton received an overwhelming response of affirmation from our membership in both our English and Spanish speaking congregations. He is scheduled to begin preaching at FBCW in late February. Please be in prayer for the Wootton family as they transition to Woodbridge in the coming weeks. A prayer guide for Pastor Josh, Jennifer, Levi and Phoebe Wootton will be available soon.
 
So, let’s celebrate together the goodness of our Lord, his faithfulness to our church family, and his sovereign grace which he has given us as a church family! Jesus is worthy of our praise and of our service to Him!

Click here for Pastor Josh's biography. And, if you missed it, click here to hear Pastor Josh's sermon at FBCW from Sunday, January 22.

Here is a list of three of Pastor Josh's prior sermons:
“Christ for All”— Mark 7:24–8:21
“God’s Word Greater than Man’s word” — Genesis 11:1–9
“Jesus is the Good Shepherd” — John 10:11–30

January 11, 2023 Update:

First Family,
Please join us in welcoming our Senior Pastor Candidate, Dr. Josh Wootton! Attached is a pdf of Josh’s biography and photos of his family for your convenience.

Pastor Josh and his family will be joining us on the weekend of January 21-22:
On Saturday, January 21, join us in the lobby for a Drop-In Reception from 10:30am-12pm to meet and talk with Pastor Josh. Deaf interpretation will be available on this day from 10:30am-11am.
On Sunday, January 22, Pastor Josh will be preaching in all 3 of our services and will be greeting the Hispanic Congregation at their 1pm service. Voting ballots will be available in both electronic and paper format at the end of each service.

In addition, please click on the links below to hear 3 sermons from Pastor Josh:
“Christ for All”— Mark 7:24–8:21
“God’s Word Greater than Man’s word” — Genesis 11:1–9
“Jesus is the Good Shepherd” — John 10:11–30

We are very excited to be welcoming the Wootton family and hope you will join us in greeting them!
Thank you for your prayers and support,
-FBCW Staff, Elders, and Senior Pastor Search Team
October 16, 2022 Update:

Greetings First Family!
In June, the Vanderbloemen Search Group received more than 130 applications for FBCW’s Senior Pastor vacancy.
In late August, the Senior Pastor Search Team was presented with a slate of candidates, recommended as top applicants for this position, by our Vanderbloemen representative.
Over the past few months, we eagerly engaged the candidates via multiple interviews and conversations, reviewed resumes, sermon samples, and considered their responses to broad-ranging questionnaires and supplemental information.
We have been so thankful for your prayers and the Lord’s provision for unity among our team at every step of this process.
That said, we have narrowed down the pool to one candidate. We are very excited to be to this point in the process, and we humbly request that members remain steadfast in prayer for the remaining steps ahead, and specifically for the candidate and his family.
Again, we would like to reiterate our gratitude for your prayers throughout this process!
To God be the Glory!
July 25, 2022 Update:

First Family,
The Senior Pastor Search Team continues to work through the process of prayerfully searching for our new Senior Pastor. These efforts are led by our collective commitment to daily prayers and praying together as a team. We thank you for praying WITH us, FOR us, and also FOR our future Senior Pastor and his family as we seek the Lord’s direction in each phase of this process.
You’re invited to download the next two-month edition of the Search Process Prayer Guide at the button below.
We are encouraged to share with you that our executive search partner, Vanderbloemen Search Group, has had the Senior Pastor position profile open for over a month and upwards of 100 candidates have already applied for the position! This amount of application activity has been a blessing as we see numerous men interested in seeking the Lord’s will concerning our senior pastor role. At the end of August, our Vanderbloemen consultant will present 5-6 highly recommended candidates for our search team to get to know and prayerfully consider for next steps in the process as we discover the Lord’s will together.
We humbly ask that you continue to pray for our collective wisdom and discernment as we begin the next phase of this process which includes reviewing applicant packages. We are excited for this next phase, and we are trusting and seeking the Lord.
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1 John 5:14-15
To God Be the Glory!
May 29, 2022 Update:

Dear First Family,
The Senior Pastor Search Team continues to meet, communicate, and pray together over who the Lord is bringing to FBCW as Senior Pastor. Prayer and trust in the Lord direct these efforts, and we encourage you to download the prayer guides we are using and join us in weekly, intentional intercessory prayer for our next Senior Pastor. Please click the link to download the first, 2-month prayer guide. We will upload subsequent 2-month prayer guides throughout the search. So that once the current one is concluded, another 2-month prayer guide will be available for you. Hard copies are also available at the welcome desk in the church lobby.
May 5, 2022 Update:

Dear First Family,
In an effort to keep the congregation informed on the Senior Pastor search process, we are delighted to share that the Senior Pastor Search Team is assembled, and the process to select a new Senior Pastor has commenced. We are meeting together on a regular basis, and we are excited to see who the Lord brings to FBCW to fulfill this role. As we pray through this process as a team, we humbly invite your commitment to pray regularly for us, and alongside us as the Lord leads our steps. In addition to the prayer points that are found on this page, a downloadable prayer guide will be available soon for you to use as we seek the Lord together asking Him to lead the search process.
As we study Paul's letter to the Philippians together, may we also be encouraged to set our gaze on our Lord Jesus Christ:
"Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind." Philippians 2:1-2

Prayer:

Please pray for our search team as they partner with Vanderbloemen Search Group in discovering Senior Pastor candidates that will best fit FBCW.

 Pray even now for our future Senior Pastor, his family, and the impending transition to FBCW that will follow.

 Pray that God would continue to grow our church’s fellowship, unity, number and community impact as we seek to be a Go & Tell church that seeks to glorify God by making disciples that make disciples.