Vanderbloemen Search Group Assists Champion Forest Baptist Church Recruit Fourth Senior Pastor

February 23, 2021 – Vanderbloemen Search Group, which finds leaders for churches and ministries, has assisted in the placement of Jarrett Stephens as the fourth senior pastor of Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, TX. Eric Albert, executive search consultant, said: “What an exciting new season for Champion Forest Baptist Church. The pastoral search committee came in with detailed expectations and they were overjoyed to meet Jarrett. The pastoral search committee even mentioned that we introduced them to the unicorn.”

Pastor Stephens previously served as teaching pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church, in Plano, TX. He began his ministry at Prestonwood as an intern to married adults in 2000, then grew into leadership in many roles including overseeing the residency program, ministering to young singles, leading many mission trips, and launched the Prestonwood network planting churches around the country. Pastor Stephens also serves on the boards of BridgeBuilders, Dallas Baptist University and the North American Mission board. Pastor Stephens received his master of divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2006 and his doctorate of ministry from Liberty Theological Seminary in 2012.

The senior pastor candidate identification and screening processes were launched last August. “We are pleased to report that 5,070 possible candidates showed interest in our senior pastor role, and of those, 128 candidates were worked with. That list was ultimately narrowed down much further to a final grouping,” said the church.

“Once the candidates were narrowed down to five, the search firm immediately began the extremely difficult task of learning everything we could about each of these godly men, and how God had prepared and gifted them to be our next senior pastor,” it added. “As part of our review process we watched introductory videos of the candidates and their wives, studied their credentials, viewed many sermons, and had multiple personal interviews to better understand their journey and overall experience. Each step of this process was bathed in prayer (including the extensive background check done on our top candidate).”

“It has been an honor to get to know and walk alongside your pastor search committee in recent days and I am extremely humbled and grateful they have extended an invitation to serve your great church in this capacity,” said pastor Stephens. “Know that I am eager to begin and am hopeful for all that I believe God can do in and through us as we seek together to live on mission for him.”

The idea of a Southern Baptist Church in the Farm to Market Road 1960 area of Houston goes back to Reverend Robin Guess, founding pastor of Champion Forest Baptist Church during its first seven years. Champion Forest Baptist Church is an “autonomous body of believers who have been saved and eternally secured by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, baptized as believers by immersion, and joined together by the Holy Spirit, with Jesus Himself as the head of the church,” the church said.

Serving Faith-Based Organizations

Vanderbloemen Search Group is a pastor-focused search firm that helps churches and faith-based organizations find mission-driven leaders. It has completed hundreds of searches serving churches and ministries from 70 to 70,000 in size, including nearly 100 denominations and tribes. The firm was founded in 2010 by CEO William Vanderbloemen, who has combined over 15 years of ministry experience as a senior pastor with the best practices of executive search to provide churches with a unique, and some would say, inspirational offering.

Mr. Albert works directly with churches, guiding them through Vanderbloemen’s search process to find the right staff for their church. He focuses on discovering the unique DNA of the church and matching that DNA with candidates who possess the skills and gifts they need to help the church accomplish its mission. Mr. Albert has more than 22 years of pastoral ministry experience.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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