Special Announcement – September 10, 2023

Church Family, we come to you today on behalf of the Staff & Elders to share some exciting news that is the result of much prayer and many discussions. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in complete unity, we are happy to be able to share this with all of you.  (I Corinthians 1:10; Romans 8:14; Romans 8:26-27)

First, a little history; we want to share how we got to this moment.

In February of 2020, we met off site to talk about the future of Grace Church and things we needed to work on long term.  We had some wonderful discussions that day and made plans.  As you know, in March of 2020 Covid hit and Pastor Phil and the team put those plans on the back burner to shepherd and lead and serve you the church body in the time of uncertainty.

A year later, we began to focus again on the discussions and conversations about the future of Grace and spent many meetings in prayer asking the Lord for wisdom and direction. (Matthew 18:20; Ephesians 3:12; Acts 12:1-17)

In the Spring of 2022, the Elders & Pastor’s sought the counsel of an outside group to help us ask questions about mission strategy and direction and we also sought input from you the body & the leaders. (Matthew 28:19,20; John 17:18-21; Acts 1:8)

In June 2023 – one year later, and after a special retreat of all the leadership the previous fall, we shared a report with you about some positives to report, some praises to share, and some areas to work on to better fulfill our mission and to better serve all of you. (I Peter 5)

There are 4 specific changes that were made clear to us through the last 3 years of prayers, petitions, and preparation for the future.

1.  We needed to change the leadership structure of Grace Church because of the heavy workload and the changing landscape of the ministry both inside our church and outside of it. Our Senior Pastor has been faithful and continues to be faithful and God has used his leadership mightily in teaching, shepherding, and pastoring.  With that said, it became clear to us that no one person going forward would be able to maintain that level of responsibility along with other growing demands and a decision was made to add another person to the senior staff to help lead, guide and shepherd the staff and the church family.

It may surprise you when you hear the name of the person to whom we reached out, but it won’t surprise you that he would be considered for this position because of his love and faithfulness to the Lord, His obedience to His call and of course the love he and his wife have for the people of Grace Church.  His name is Josh Colyer.

At the first part of August, after two months of prayer God directed the elders to extend a call to Josh and Jenise Colyer to come back to Grace Church in January 2024 and for Josh to become the Executive Pastor of Ministries at Grace Church.  They believe that it is God’s will for their family to return to Des Moines and are excited about this new direction and calling for them at Grace Church.

2.  As a result of the leadership change, we are also changing Pastor Kirby’s title, but not his responsibilities, to reflect his new role of executive leadership to “Executive Pastor of Operations”.  He will continue to oversee all aspects of the business of the church including budgets, finances, buildings, and grounds as well as office operations, personnel and equipment.

3.  As we looked to the future, we knew at some point there would be a transition of leadership of the Senior Pastor.  Pastor Phil and Bonnie have faithfully served Grace Church for over 40 years and no transition of this magnitude should be done lightly or too quickly for the sake of the flock, the staff, the leaders and the future trajectory of God’s ministry here at Grace.  We are so grateful for their many years of faithful service, and ministry and for the leadership they have provided for our local body of believers.

Today, we are sharing with you that Pastor Phil has been working with others to develop a transition plan that will begin in January of 2024 and end in December of 2024 and has the full support of the staff and elders.

We do have that plan in writing, and it includes specific dates and timeframes for various duties and responsibilities to be handed off and we are so grateful and so blessed to have our trusted and cherished shepherd, Pastor Phil, to lead us through the transition process.

4.  As we considered the future, and as Pastor Phil and the leadership team talked about his transition, we felt God’s leading for us to consider someone we already had on staff to fill the senior pastor position and we asked that individual to pray and seek God’s leading.  That person has been filling the pulpit more and has been given more responsibility and has begun the process of mentorship by Pastor Phil and that person is Pastor Matt Agee.

As Pastor Phil starts his transition in 2024 both the Elders and Pastor will begin working with Pastor Matt Agee by giving him more time to preach and by providing training, coaching and development opportunities to confirm that he is the man we believe God is calling to be the head pastor.

In accordance with our bi-laws, once the elders feel it is the appropriate time, it will be presented to you, the congregation, for a vote.

We believe this whole process and the changes we are announcing today have been led by the Lord. We are incredibly blessed as a congregation that there are no divisions on our staff or elders and that God continues to lead our church family.

We are excited about the future, and we are excited to shepherd each of you through this time of transition for greater ministry and for God’s glory.

The Elders of Grace Church