Eastview Church Family,

It was such a blessing to celebrate the Christmas season together and usher in the new year. The new year brings with it expectation and a hope for what lies ahead for our church family! We are excited to share an update on our Lead Pastor search, but first, we’d like to recap the progress that has been made over the past six weeks.

The week of November 20^th Slingshot Group presented Eastview with a short list of four qualified candidates for consideration. These individuals were among the larger pool of approximately 40 candidates engaged in Slingshot’s official Eastview pipeline.

The week of November 27^th we began the interview process with these four candidates which included:

• A thorough review of each candidate’s submitted profile, references, resumes, etc.
• Two initial interviews with each candidate led by the Search Team
• A sampling and survey of each candidate’s preaching ability via video sermon

The week of December 4^th the Search Team met to review notes, impressions, and ratings from the interview process. We had a guided “scorecard” to objectively evaluate each candidate individually, and then collectively against one another. As we reviewed our four candidates, we were pleasantly surprised when Slingshot recommended a fifth candidate for consideration. After reviewing their profile, we agreed it would be wise to interview them bringing our short list of candidates to five. The week of December 11^th the Search Team interviewed this fifth and final candidate.

On December 18^th, the Search team unanimously agreed to pass along two candidates for final consideration to the Elder team. This included a recommendation on a leading candidate. We were grateful to cross this milestone before the holidays.

We have now entered the final phase of our Lead Pastor search. The Elder team will be actively engaging with our leading candidate over the next several weeks. The Elders have been fasting and praying as they prepare for this time and invite you to join them in prayer.

We plan to provide more frequent updates in upcoming services as well as online throughout January and February. We are excited and hopeful for what we believe God is orchestrating. This journey has been a reminder of God’s incredible faithfulness, ongoing protection, and constant provision for Eastview dating back to our inception in 1955. God continues to write a beautiful story here at Eastview… and for that, we are grateful.