Jokes aside, Willbanks said it was fitting “to take a moment and look back at how we arrived here.” Willbanks recounted calling a pastor friend last year and discussing his concerns about “the weightiness of finding a new senior pastor.”
“And he said to me, ‘Tra, you don’t need to worry about finding the right person. The Lord is going to bring him to you. In fact, the Lord already knows who it is, and he’s been preparing that very person for this role,’” said Willbanks. While those words were “simple,” Willbanks expressed that they were “a great encouragement.”
Willbanks said that he had his “first conversations” with Floyd in January. “And from the start of our conversation, there was an immediate connection,” recalled Willbanks, adding that Floyd referred to that connection as “a divine flow.”
“But I knew instantly that this was someone I wanted to be friends with, regardless of where our conversations might lead,” Willbanks said of Floyd. Following that conversation, Willbanks said that Gateway began a “thoughtful and thorough interview process” with Floyd. During that process, Willbanks said that “it was apparent that God had already been at work in Daniel and Tammy’s lives,” leading them toward a “new season.”
In April, the Gateway Church elders settled on their decision to offer Floyd the pastorate. Willbanks said that the elders were unanimous in their opinion and sensed the “clear affirmation of the Holy Spirit.”
After asking the congregation to stand and extend a hand toward the Floyd family, Willbanks said, “With full joy and confidence, we appoint Pastor Daniel as the new lead pastor of Gateway Church. And we commission him, Pastor Tammie, and his family into this new chapter of leadership.”
Willbanks and the other elders then prayed over the Floyd family.
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Addressing the congregation, Floyd said, “Many people call these moments ‘installation services.’ And I told the team, ‘Can we go with the word commissioning?’”
, Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, officially installed Daniel Floyd as its new lead pastor during a special commissioning service. ){kind=link}