November 27, 2023
Dear Church Family,
Greetings to you in the precious name of Jesus. It was a joy for me to worship with the Christ Church family on Sunday.
Barbara and I feel it’s important that we share the announcement that was made in church with everyone of you. Please find below the information regarding interim pastoral leadership for Christ Church between now and June 30, 2024.Should you have any questions, please reach out to either Barbara Driscoll, chair of the church Staff Parish Relations Committee, or me, Rev. Dr. Simon Osunlana, the South East District superintendent, through our email addresses listed at the end of this announcement. God bless you.
Following is the announcement shared in worship on Sunday:
"It is an honor to be present in worship today at Christ Church United Methodist in Fort Lauderdale, in a city where I served for 15 years as the senior pastor of St. John’s.
Before I bring the message, I wanted to give you an update on the transition here at Christ Church.
As Pastor Alex Shanks shared last week and as I shared previously by email, Pastor Nathan Adams, your lead pastor since July 2022, requested a transitional leave of absence to transition to his next appointment within our United Methodist connectional system. We, as a conference, are grateful for Nathan’s leadership in Christ Church and in Fort Lauderdale and continue to keep him and his wife Alicia in our prayers.
This past Monday night, I met with your Staff Parish Relations Committee, which is your leadership team related to the work of your staff and personnel.
We prayed together for Christ Church and for this transition and thought carefully about what is needed in this moment.
We took into account your commitment as a United Methodist Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world and your strong faithfulness related to our conference priorities related to being a vital and sustainable local church, a church that reaches all people in your community, a church that is passionate about missions and a church that creates and expands the beloved community and much more.
Any time there is a moment of transition, it is essential that we provide just the right leadership in this moment.
I am pleased to announce that both Rev. Peytyn Tobin, who is a licensed local pastor and has been your associate pastor at Christ Church since July 2023, and Rev. Monique McBride, who is an ordained deacon and has been appointed to Christ Church and Christ Church School for nine years, are both fully committed to serving this church and working with the leaders of the church and school staff during this season of transition until the Bishop and Cabinet and I discern who will be the new lead pastor to begin in July 2024.
In this in-between time, I wanted to share three important notes with you:
- I am personally committed to doing all I can to assist you in this transition. My role as your District Superintendent is to care for you and for your pastors and staff and to do all I can to help. That is why I am here today. I look forward to talking with you and meeting you as together we face this moment.
- I have asked my fellow cabinet colleague, Rev. Alex Shanks, who preached last Sunday, who is the Assistant to the Bishop, and who is a former pastor of Christ Church, to provide interim pastoral leadership and coverage between now and December 31, 2023. Pastor Alex will be in Sunday morning worship during the month of December and will be here next Sunday as Pastor Peytyn preaches the first Sunday in your advent worship series. Pastor Alex will then preach on December 10 and December 17, as well as the evening Christmas Eve services. Pastor Alex will join as many virtual meetings and be available to support Pastor Peytyn, Pastor Monique, and the church staff and leadership as needed.
- Bishop Berlin and I have prayed long and hard about who the interim lead pastor would be to serve from January 2024 through June 2024. We knew we needed just the right person, and we believe an interim lead pastor for the first six months will be essential to the next steps. We have listened to the needs of the church leadership and consulted with our cabinet and the consistent name that came to us to serve Christ Church as the interim lead pastor is the same person who the appointive cabinet also discerned and your SPRC confirmed. I want to share with you that Rev. David McEntire will join you beginning in January 2024. I want to share some information about him AND assure you that he will be here next Sunday for Pastor Alex to introduce him.
About Pastor McEntire
- David is a native of Atlanta, Ga., and has lived in diverse communities around the world.
- David has faithfully served in ministry in and through the United Methodist Church for four-plus decades before retiring about a year ago in December 2022.
- David has pastored churches in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church for more than 42 years.
- He is a graduate of Florida State University, majoring in psychology and religion. He attended seminary at The Divinity School at Duke University.
- David has served churches in Plantation, Ocklawaha, Fort Pierce and West Palm Beach, and most recently he served as the senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Lakeland, Florida, one of the largest and most complex churches in Florida. .
- He has been a delegate to the South East Jurisdictional Conference and the General Conference of the United Methodist Church.
- David has served on several Florida Conference Boards and agencies, including the Board of Ordained Ministry and the Florida Southern College Board of Trustees, and he has previously served as the chair of the Florida United Methodist Children's Home Board, The Florida Conference Board of Trustees and the Florida Conference Board of Camps and Retreat Ministries
- David is married to Nancy Curran, who grew up in Pompano Beach. Nancy and her family were active members of First United Methodist Church of Pompano Beach, the church where David and Nancy were married and where David served as youth director.
- Nancy and David have three adult children, Katie, Andy and Molly, who are all active in The United Methodist Church and are incredible leaders. They have two grandsons, Crosley and Jude.
- David is firmly grounded in his Wesleyan roots and theology. He is passionate about mission and evangelism and, most of all, loves to preach.
- David’s greatest joy is knowing that a person has come to know the love of Christ in a personal way."
Peace of Christ be with you,
Rev. Dr. Simon Osunlana Barbara Driscoll
District Superintendent Chair, Staff Parish Relations Committee
