This article was originally printed in the April 2001edition of “fellowship!,” a monthly publication of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
It’s not what most pastor search committees are
looking for when they begin: a husband and wife who want to be joint, equal
pastors of the same congregation. Yet, it is proving to be a successful model
both for the churches who take the risk and for the couples willing to work to
make it happen.
“When we started our process, we were open to
anything,” said Marinn Bengel, chair of the committee that brought Russ and Amy
Jacks Dean to Park Road Baptist Church in Charlotte in October 2000. “But
actually it had never occurred to us to consider a team. We didn’t even know
how to interview them.”
The Deans, anticipating this, came prepared with
details of how they expected their ministry to work. “A magical thing
happened,” Marinn said. “We had met 15 other candidates and did phone
interviews with another 25. After talking with Amy and Russ, we were thinking
‘could this be it?’ It was almost too good t be true. It was so right, it was
unbelievable. It is not what we went to find, but it is so perfect for us.”
“All of us on the committee, to a person, said God
did this for us.”
During the past three years, Marinn said, Park Road
had declined in membership and morale was low. “We were to the point of
thinking that if this search fails, what will we do. If we couldn’t start to
grow our church, we didn’t know if we could sustain it,” she said.
“Now we are almost like Lazarus,” she said. “We were
down to about 125 in worship and hadn’t seen any growth in two years. Now we
have 250 in worship. I think that shows how good they are. They are warm,
engaging, enthusiastic. The dynamics are overwhelming. All signs are that we a
healthy, turned-around church.
At Kilmarnock Baptist Church in northern Virginia,
the search committee five years ago didn’t go out looking for a couple either.
“We’re a country church and we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves as a candidate
for this kind of team ministry,” said Bill Moore, chair of the committee.
After meeting Bill and Mary Dell Sigler, the
committee of 10 decided to spend a week in prayer, the result of which, Moore
said, was each one coming back convinced that “the Lord wants us to call them.”
The call went out, the Siglers came, and “things just keep getting better,”
Moore said.
For
Maralene and Miles Wesner, being pastors of a church together is nothing new.
They have been the bi-vocational pastors of Tom Baptist Church in Tom, OK, for
more than 35 years. “Since before our marriage in 1953 we have collaborated on
all projects and the church is no exception,” Miles said. “We plan, research,
outline and write sermons together. On Sundays, I deliver the message in the
tried an d true morning worship format. On Sunday evenings, we have a forum in
which Maralene directs a discussion of the sermon topic.”
The
Wesners are college professors, writers, and counselors. They have traveled extensively
together, and participated in the first International, Educational and
Religious Symposium in the People’s Republic of China after the Cultural
Revolution. They have published a number of books, most recently through their
own Diversity Press.