Update for Layne

by Layne Smith on December 21, 2025

A Personal Update
Thank you for the opportunity to share life and ministry with you! As you may know, my initial agreement with MPBC was for one year, beginning March 4, 2025. That year is almost gone. The HR Deacons and I have agreed for me to remain as your Interim Senior Minister through the end of May 2026. I look forward to what the next five and ½ months have in store for us. 

Good Things Happening
A number of you have remarked about the renewed energy you feel at MPBC. The stewardship campaign led by Jay Rivers and his team has been extremely successful. These two things indicate to me that MPBC’s future is promising. The challenge is to continue to work together, welcome newcomers, and remain open to change. Our world is much different than it was a few months ago, much less a few years ago. You have done excellent work in celebrating your rich history, articulating a new mission statement around which you can structure and build your ministries. Also, you are right sizing the governance structure which will enable the church to be nimble. Churches that flourish, moving forward, will be able to be proactive and not merely reactive. MPBC always has been a leader. The future does not need to be any different.

Your Transition Team
You continue to show up at the congregational conversations and provide invaluable input. In the next weeks, the Transition Team will report back to you what they heard at the November lunch and conversation. Then, your input will be shared with the various ministries to help them plan and strengthen their work. Our next meal and conversation will occur on January 11, 2026, following morning worship. Our Ministry of Justice and Outreach (MOJO) will lead us in our conversation regarding our ministries in the community. I trust that you will show up and speak up as you have done previously.

Transforming the World
We gather on Sundays and at other times to worship God and prepare ourselves for service in the world. Our calling is to follow the One whose birth we celebrate this month. If that is not why we are here, then we are no different from many other organizations in our community. My prayer is that you will commit to gather regularly with God’s people at MPBC for worship and ministry in the new year. Jesus invited twelve ordinary people to be his original disciples. Together, they accomplished extraordinary things that changed the world. That same Jesus invites us still to work together with him to change the world. The only question is, “Will you and I be a part of that work?”

About the Author

Layne Smith

Rev. Dr. Layne Smith has dedicated his career to serving congregations in transition, providing pastoral leadership and guidance to churches across North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. Before stepping into intentional interim ministry in 2009, he was a Senior Pastor for 26 years in Arkansas and North Carolina. He holds a B.A. from Oklahoma Baptist University, did graduate work at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Baylor University, and earned his M.Div. and D.Min. at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. 

Layne and his wife, Dianne, have been married for over 50 years. They met while students in seminary and have two daughters and four grandchildren. Their family enjoys traveling and exploring international destinations together, and Layne also enjoys playing golf. 

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