A church that removed a well-known pastor two years ago for alcohol abuse has named Jesus as its senior pastor.
NewSpring Church in South Carolina fired senior pastor Perry Noble two years ago for alcohol abuse and “other issues,” Christian Headlines reported at the time. The new senior pastor, according to the bylaws, is Jesus Christ.
Teaching Pastor Clayton King revealed the unique arrangement in an Essential Church podcast, according to The Christian Post.
“We are a true team approach to ministry now,” King said. “I was senior pastor for one year but now our church has one senior pastor and we’ve literally in our new bylaws named Jesus Christ as our senior pastor. So we are structured differently now. It’s a true team approach and let me tell you, I love it.”
The church has four lead pastors and three teaching pastors, but no traditional senior pastor.
“By the grace of God it’s working,” King said. “We’re healthier than we’ve ever been. We’re stronger than we’ve ever been.”
King said he did not want to be senior pastor.
“I’ve had this conversation with so many people over the last two years because the mindset, and it’s not wrong, it’s just that when everything happened in our church and the articles were written and I was named interim senior pastor, a lot of folks were, ‘Are you gonna be the next senior pastor?’ And honestly I never wanted to be,” he said.
The arrangement forces the three teaching pastors to submit their egos to the Holy Spirit, King added. The other two teaching pastors are Brad Cooper and Dan Lian.
“The three of us are great friends,” King said. “We are very close.”
Michael Foust is a freelance writer. Visit his blog, MichaelFoust.com
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