Churchwide Update: Calling of Dr. Wayne Splawn as Senior Minister

 |  Churchwide Updates  |  Amy Hirsch


The leadership of the church’s Pulpit Nominating Committee met with the Board of Deacons on Monday, November 15 to share their recommendation that our church call Dr. Wayne Splawn as our next senior minister.

The letter of recommendation to the Chairman of the Board of Deacons reads as follows:

It is our pleasure to deliver a recommendation to the Deacon body after our almost 10-month search for a new senior minister for our church. From those early conversations when Dr. Dortch delivered the news of his retirement to us early in 2021 to now, it seems as if his advance notice was a big benefit to our process. That advance notice gave us the necessary time to conduct a full-scale nationwide search for the best person to lead us.

The 15-member strong committee was focused, committed, and passionate about doing a thorough job in filling this most important position. At each meeting, our focus was on following God’s will and not our own as we searched for the right fit for our congregation. The group made this a priority and cancelled many other meetings and events to attend our sessions. We started with weekly sessions in the spring and summer preparing the information that MBBC would supply to any interested candidate, discussed and prepared an “expectation outline” of what we were looking for in this position, and developed our interview process around the characteristics that both our committee and our membership indicated they desired. We then continued with as needed meetings during our interview process where we met to discuss what we learned in these interviews.

In conjunction with our consultant, Bill Wilson, we narrowed the field to nine quality candidates from all over the country and performed very thorough interviews and background checks on all nine. After this step in the process, we narrowed the field to three candidates to bring in for in person interviews, dinner, and a lengthy meeting with our entire group. After this process, a consensus person was identified, and we are excited to unanimously recommend to the entire church body Dr. Wayne Splawn to fill the role of the next senior pastor of Mountain Brook Baptist Church.

We also realize that our role is not completed once we make a recommendation. Assuming the church ratifies our recommendation, we fully expect to be engaged in a role of assistance to the new pastor in the transition. We look at this as a 100-day to six-month process where we can continue to be a “coach” to the pastor as he works through many decisions that will be placed in front of him.

On behalf of our entire committee, we thank you for the trust you placed in our group and for the prayers of the entire congregation as we prayerfully considered what is best for the church now and into the future. We have gathered some information on how others have made introductions and welcomed a new pastor and would be glad to share those with you or others. Please let us know what we can do to assist the church in the transition. 

MBBC Pulpit Nominating Committee
Allison Rice, Co-Chairman
Grantland Rice III, Co-Chairman
Joe Adams
Cecil Avery
Elizabeth Baker
Elisabeth Branch
Meredith Cale
Eddie Elliott
Geoff Johnson
Chuck Redden
Matt Rich
Margaret Ritchie
Marshall Rivers
John Scott
Mary Watkins

Congregational Vote on Sunday, November 21

This Sunday, November 21, at the conclusion of both the 9 and 11 a.m. services, there will be a Called Church Conference to receive and act upon the motion from the Pulpit Nominating Committee to call Dr. Wayne Splawn as the next senior minister of Mountain Brook Baptist Church. Please pray for this unique and exciting day in the life and ministry of our church.