Last night, Jason Meyer was confirmed by members of Bethlehem Baptist Church (BBC) to eventually replace John Piper as Pastor for Preaching and Vision.
I am thankful that BBC has had such a smooth process of calling a replacement for their pastor and thankful that it is former Louisiana College professor Dr. Jason Meyer.
Regarding the vote, Piper wrote in a letter to the church:
I have no memory of any all-church strategy meeting with 800 people in attendance. Last night (May 20), 792 members gathered at Bethlehem’s Downtown Campus to complete the confirmation of Jason Meyer as the Associate Pastor for Preaching and Vision. Of these, 784 confirmed the unanimous recommendation of the elders that Jason be called, beginning his ministry on or before August 1, 2012.
The ballots were then collected and the congregation spent time in prayer as the votes were counted.
The count: 784 yes, 8 no (99% approval).
The congregation then sang the Doxology and the elders prayed over the Meyers.
Would you rejoice with me over this turn of affairs? In the last five months God has united the search team, the pastoral staff, the elders, and now the people in an unprecedented way—99% of 792 people united in their sense of God’s leading is simply stunning.
On February 13, 1980, Bethlehem voted to call me as her pastor. The vote was 149 yes, 17 no (89.7%). Thirty-two years later the church is more united than ever behind her leaders. For this I am on my face with tears of thankfulness and joy.
Congratulations to BBC and Dr. Meyer in their calling of another great leader who will feed the sheep and love God above all else.
Bryan DeWire (@stickdewire) snapped this shot while Meyer addressed the church:
