The following are updates to the Grace Mosaic congregation regarding our pastoral search. If you are interested in reading more, please view our Pastoral Candidate Packet

Pastoral Search Committee Election Results

Thank you to all who were able to participate in Sunday’s congregational meeting.  We are pleased to announce that the Pastoral Search Committee (PSC) has been approved with the support of the congregation!  

Grace Mosaic PSC:

• Becca Beavers
• Duncan Bedlion
• Christopher Brown
• Kelsey Frierson
• Kenny Gibbs (Elder Representative)
• Sequins Gooding
• Robert Henderson
• Abby Maraya
• Heidi Simenson
• Matthew Schmidt
• Alex Tenney

We covet your continued prayers for these sisters and brothers as they undertake their work.

As always, ​please feel free to send any questions to elder@gracemosaic.org.

Grace and Peace, The Grace Mosaic Session (Kenny, Michael, Dolph and Evan)

Rev Josh Eby Joins Search and Updates

We are writing to follow up to our message last week in which we shared that Grace Mosaic has hired Rev. Josh Eby as a consultant in our Lead Pastor search process.  This email will give you a high level overview of the anticipated process.  

Before we get to the process, we first ask that you commit to steadfast prayer. At this time of transition, the enemy would like nothing more than to sow doubt, division and discord. It has been the faithful prayers of the saints that has built this community, and we are confident that through your prayers God will continue to extend the impactful ministry of Grace Mosaic. Pray for wisdom, for grace, for the search process, for unity, and for our new pastor – that God would be preparing him (and his family) for the work in store at Grace Mosaic. Pray also for Pastors Russ and Joel and their families as they pursue new calls from the Lord. We are working on developing additional times for corporate prayer and will let you know as those develop. 

Roadmap: This is a roadmap for the next steps in the process to recruit a candidate called to, excited about and capable of extending the cross-cultural gospel ministry of Grace Mosaic.  While ultimately the timing is up to the Lord (Gal 4:4), by God’s grace, we intend to kick off candidate recruitment this fall with the goal of having a new pastor start no later than next summer.  

Congregational Participation:  The congregation will play important roles in this process:

# 1. Pastoral search committee (PSC):  We are looking for members to serve as part of the pastoral search committee (PSC).  The PSC will work under the guidance of the church leadership to (a) develop a search packet that reflects our mission, vision and values, (b) interview and evaluate candidates, and (c) present a final recommendation to the congregation.

• PSC Composition: The PSC will consist of 9 individuals in total – 8 members of the church (4 women and 4 men) and 1 elder representative. These individuals will be members in good standing who can effectively represent and reflect our congregation (in terms of years of experience at the church, life stage, and contributions to the community).       
• PSC Nomination Period:
  • The nomination period will be from July 6 – July 20. Please prayerfully nominate members who you believe would be able to effectively participate on this committee.  
• PSC Vote: The Leadership team will assess the nominations and present a slate of candidates for a vote at a congregational meeting after service on July 27.  

#2. Congregational Survey: Whether or not you’re on the PSC, we want to hear your voice! We will send out a brief survey on July 6 so that we can hear from you about your experiences at GMo, and what you hope for in our next lead pastor. This formative feedback will provide valuable information as the PSC commences its work. The survey will be open July 6 – July 25.

#3. Voting to approve the final candidate: Once the PSC has concluded its work and made a final recommendation, the congregation will vote to approve that call. We will aim to keep the congregation up to date regularly so you are aware of the status of the process (~every month).

We know that this is a time of significant transition – in our church, city and world.  We also believe that we have all been called for such a time as this.   God remains at work in our community. God has good plans for our community.  We trust that God will continue to advance the beautiful, fruitful, cross-cultural ministry that He began through the leadership of Pastors Russ and Joel through our new pastor. Whether directly involved in the PSC or not, we encourage you to continue to invest in the life of our community – through prayer, attending Sunday worship, community groups, serving our children and youth, generous giving, attending the Fall Retreat, and the impactful neighbor love that our diaconate so capably leads.  This is what makes GMo so special, and what makes us excited about what the Lord has in store in the next chapter of this ministry.

Please feel free to send any questions to elder@gracemosaic.org.

With Trust in God and His Promises, and Hope for the Future,

The Grace Mosaic Session (Kenny, Michael, Dolph and Evan)

Pastoral Search Process Update

We are writing with excitement to announce that Grace Mosaic has retained Rev. Josh Eby (Ferros Search) as a consultant to help guide our search for our next Lead Pastor!  

Over the past month, Elder Kenny, Shepherdess Kim, and Pastor Glenn met with several potential firms to discern whether engaging their services would be fruitful.  They uniformly felt that having a guide through this process would be a great benefit to our congregation, and that Josh’s pastoral approach, focus on church health, and experience in cross-cultural ministry would best suit the needs of our congregation at this time of transition.  This recommendation was enthusiastically accepted by the broader leadership team!  

The elders met with Josh on Monday night of this week to pray and discuss the road ahead. We plan to send another email next week letting you know about the next steps in this process, including how you will be involved (step 1, pray!). We will follow up with an announcement at our service on 7/6. In the meantime, you can read a bit about Josh here:

Josh Eby is a PCA pastor. He grew up in the PCA in Colorado and California, where his dad served as a church planter. He has served our denomination in a number of ways, including as a church planter, missionary and founder of a ministry. He continues to serve as the Executive Director of Vida House, a ministry that trains international pastors and leaders and provides organizational leadership to their churches and ministries. He is intentionally bi-vocational and works with PCA churches across the country as a pastoral consultant, specializing in helping churches through pastoral transitions. He’s been married to Robin for 29 years and they have 5 children, ranging from 28 to 14. 

Please feel free to send any questions to elder@gracemosaic.org.

With hope and anticipation,

The Grace Mosaic Elders (Kenny, Michael, Dolph and Evan)

Transition Team Update #2

We have an exciting update for our community. After talks about the needs of our church and the opportunities we have, the GMo Leadership Team is happy to announce that Haley, Josh, Caleb, and Jahanna are all stepping into bigger roles at Grace Mosaic!

Haley, who previously served part-time as our Ministry Coordinator, will now serve full-time as our Director of Community Life and Staff, managing church operations in addition to continuing with ministry coordination. Josh and Caleb were Pastoral Residents, and their time at GMo was initially scheduled to conclude this spring as they graduate seminary. However, Josh will now join the GMo staff full-time as the Director of Youth Ministry and church finances. He’ll also be assisting Haley and contributing to the preaching rotation from time to time. Similarly, Caleb will increase his hours to assist with church operations and KYM, and he’ll also bless the community with preaching occasionally. Finally, Jahanna, our Children’s Ministry Coordinator who joined the staff last month, will be increasing her hours and expanding the role as Director of Children’s Ministry. In this new role, she will also be taking on additional responsibilities in communications consultation.

The Leadership Team is really enthusiastic about the continuity, passion, and creativity these four team members will bring to the church during this time. We’re grateful they are willing to step up and take on these new roles. Naturally, there might be some adjustments to job responsibilities as the church moves through this transition, especially as the church plans for an interim and then a permanent Lead Pastor. However, having these key people locked in before summer starts means they can make the most of the time they have with Pastor Joel to learn and take over responsibilities.

For those attending the network-wide Congregational Meeting on June 8th, you’ll see these staffing changes reflected in the budget. With the recent transition news, the Leadership Team has been working hard over the past few weeks to rework the budget. They’ve integrated the reduction of pastoral salaries, the increase in staff salaries, a budget line for an Interim Pastor, and a placeholder for potential search consultant fees.Please continue to pray without ceasing for our church’s transition, as we are just beginning the work. Even as we rejoice at our new staff commitments, we will mark a sad and monumental first milestone in this transition with Pastor Russ’s final Sunday this weekend. The prayers of our community and the powerful grace of our Father will carry us forward in both joy and sorrow. Thank you all for your dedication to GMo, your encouragement to us, and for your support in this season!

The Grace Mosaic Leadership Team

Transition Team Update #1

Thank you to those who participated on April 27th at the congregational meeting – the GMo team was thankful for your questions and for your initial feedback as we start into this transition together. If you were not able to make it, the audio of the meeting is available within the Members Homepage of the GMo website.

The GMo leadership team is working quickly to finalize a transition roadmap, working closely with the Grace DC network pastors. One key element of that will be standing up a search committee for a new lead pastor, following Pastor Russ’s departure on June 1. This will involve congregational participation, so stay tuned for more information on this. Another important line of effort is sustaining current congregant support structures and ensuring administrative functions of GMo continue uninterrupted in the interim before a new lead pastor is identified. While Pastor Joel will have a key role in this prior to his departure by summer’s end, this will be a team effort as we align the efforts of the shepherding team, the diaconate, and our current non-pastoral staff, who are an incredible blessing to our GMo family. We are grateful for the ways our staff will provide continuity and are very excited that Jahanna Schwab has just taken over as our children’s coordinator!

If you are wondering how you can help or what you can do immediately, here are four simple things we suggested during the congregational meeting:

1. Pray corporately and individually for this transition, for the leadership team, for unity of the body, and for God to sustain the work of His church in this city.

2. Take care of your GMo family members, looking for ways to serve your brothers and sisters – this is already an incredible strength of GMo! As the leadership team increases focus on the pastoral transition, each of you will be best positioned to recognize a GMo brother or sister in need and take action to help.

3. Lean into the GMo community by committing to your CG, joining a small group, volunteering with a ministry partner, and signing up to help with our children/youth ministry. Now is a great time to strengthen your investment in our church’s life!

4. Give us feedback. We are trying to plan wisely and anticipate gaps, but we’ll miss things. Your perspective is essential as we partner with you to provide care for this church body and continue to advance the Gospel in Northeast DC.

The leadership team will continue to provide updates, to include some specific reflections on this transition, to include a series of letters from Pastor Russ (the first sent last week), and we will schedule additional congregational meetings going forward. If you have specificquestions in the meantime, please reach out to a member of the leadership or email shepherding@gracemosaic.org.

In partnership with you,

The GMo Leadership Team