A new season is dawning!

As spring arrives, it brings with it a whole new season at Covenant. Charlie and Mary Lou Halley’s upcoming summer transition to Texas is prompting a handful of shifts among staff roles, not to mention several new hires. Here is a quick update of where we are in the process.

A new role emerges: Executive Director of Ministry

One of the great benefits of working at Covenant has been having a right-hand man. In my last church, I did a little of everything from preaching to plumbing! At Covenant, however, I have been able to focus more time on the things I do best because of Charlie’s capacity to partner with me in leading this church. I know I need strong partners to steer this big ship.

The complexity of the Executive Director’s role at Covenant has grown a lot over his eight years on staff, and it is now time to split this job. We are not filling Charlie’s role but establishing a new staff position to manage a portion of what Charlie has been overseeing. The new position will be called Executive Director of Ministry.

This new position will oversee four of our five ministry “PODS” including Congregational Ministry, Outreach, Creative Arts and Next Generation (see diagram) and insure they are working together to fulfill the church’s vision to “intentionally follow Jesus…” Specifically, this staff leader will: (1) partner with me to drive a gift-based, passion-driven ministry; (2) facilitate and coordinate the implementation of the church’s ministry strategy and; (3) train, encourage and organize related equipping staff to remain focused on the mission.

I am greatly encouraged we have found a wonderful person for this new role. His name is Joe Cox.

Joe is well known in Greenville, having served St. James for 10 years in student ministry. His role at Covenant will be very different as he works with all ages and aspects of our discipleship ministries. He will also serve as the acting Director of Next Generation Ministries. (All PODS ideally have a Pastor and Director who partner together to provide holistic leadership to their ministry teams.) In this role, he will partner with the Pastor of Next Gen, Bob Wynn, and together, oversee all aspects of Preschool, Children’s, Student, College and 20 Something ministry.

Joe will begin his ministry at Covenant on July 1, and he is very excited about joining our staff team. This role will certainly allow him to provide broad leadership in all areas of our ministry. In a recent e-mail, he shared that “Marianne and I are both overwhelmed and overjoyed to come to Greenville again and to serve in a fabulous Kingdom ministry. It is truly an honor and a privilege to be invited by God to be a part of His ongoing work at Covenant Church.”

I look forward to serving with Joe in the years ahead and our partnership in the Gospel here at Covenant. Thank you, Lord!

There are also transitions beginning as a result of Mary Lou’s departure as a Guest Coordinator under Darlynn’s leadership in Congregational Ministry. Mary Lou has been grace-filled glue for our guest services during weekend worship services as well as our First Steps process and related care ministries. At the current time, we are discerning the best way to manage her departure and exploring the possibilities.

Finally, we have some staffing shifts emerging in Next Generation as we manage the significant growth that has been occurring. If you haven’t noticed, we have a ton more children each weekend now that we are in our new space, and our staffing roles need to evolve with this blessing. To better oversee and guide the ministry – and in keeping with our staff’s gifting – we are shifting the roles of Christine Schwager and Melissa Norris. Christine will partner with Joe to be air traffic controller for all “Next Gen” ministries and provide the critical planning support that is needed. Melissa will shift into a program oversight for all weekend children’s ministry. The result: We will be hiring two, new part-time roles in the Garden and Tree House. (The Garden opening is currently posted on website.) This week we are also blessing and saying good-bye to Mandi Nichols who has been serving our student ministry. She has discerned her next, right step is related to coaching and training as she did prior to her Covenant staff role.

I am excited about all of the future at Covenant. Growing churches don’t sit still. We certainly aren’t! Let’s keep advancing the Kingdom! Get ready for this weekend.

Branson