After two years without a senior pastor, First Baptist Church of Tallahassee now has a new leader. Gary Shultz Jr. accepted the call to become the new senior pastor.
Founded in 1849, First Baptist Church has played a huge role in Tallahassee. And now after two years without a senior pastor, the church has a leader who will point them in the right direction so that they can continue to spread the gospel around the world.
After Bill Shiell stepped down as pastor in February 2016 to become the president of Northern Seminary, a pastor search committee was formed in March of that year. The search committee was comprised of nine church members, spanning a varied demographic of the church. Members of the committee began meeting weekly and used a three-phase process. Those phases were: preparation, search and discernment, and the Calling phase.
During that time Josh Hall, the associate pastor at FBC Tallassee, severed as interim senior pastor. Also, a survey was developed to help guide the committee in understanding the attributes that are important to the FBC church body for their next senior pastor. More than 400 responses were received.
After about 26 months of reviewing several resumes and interviewing interested candidates, the search committee unanimously voted to invite Shultz to Tallahassee, to preach in view of a call.
On Sunday, May 27, the church had a combined worship service in which Shultz preached. After the sermon the congregation voted unanimously to have Shultz serve as the new senior pastor.
Shultz began his ministry as a pastor at Pleasant View Baptist Church in Bedford, Kentucky in 2006. He was subsequently called to be the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Fulton, Missouri, where he served from July 2009 until taking the position in Tallahassee.
“I'm excited to be the new senior pastor at FBC Tallahassee and I'm looking forward to seeing what God is going to do in the life of FBC Tallahassee,” said Shultz who at 37 years will now serve as the church’s leader.
Church members are also happy to have a new pastor. “It is so exciting to have someone to bring new vision and direction to FBC Tallahassee,” said Harlan Moret, who has been a member of the church for over five years.
Shultz is married to Kristen, and they have two girls, Hayden and Violet. First Baptist church is located at 108 W. College Ave. For more information, visit fbctlh.org.