Update from Layne & Dates for Congregational Conversations

by Layne Smith on August 03, 2025

UPDATE FROM LAYNE PLUS DATES FOR FUTURE CONGREGATIONAL CONVERSATIONS

Things are getting busy around MPBC. New community groups are forming; our various ministries are enlarging and strengthening their work within the church as well as beyond. I’m grateful for so many stepping up and getting involved with these important endeavors.

I hope that you will read the two-page digest of what the Transition Team heard at the June congregational conversation around MPBC’s rich heritage. There were well over four hundred responses from those who met and shared around the tables in Heaton Hall. If we count those items that were mentioned by more than one table, the total responses add up to over five hundred seventy-five! Remarkable! Obviously, from all the conversation, there is much to celebrate and much for which to be thankful.

So, we now move to consider “Mission” at our August 10 congregational conversation. The format will be familiar to those of you who attended the first one. We will gather, share a meal together, and then have conversation at each table, working together to articulate the purpose or mission of MPBC. It will be challenging, interesting, and I believe, rewarding. “How can I prepare?” you ask! Take some time to read and reread MPBC’s Covenant. Ponder it, pray over it. What does it say? Is it still who MPBC is and wants to be? We will be using it as a springboard for our conversation on Sunday, August 10.

Now that fall is approaching, school is starting, and summer vacations are fading into the past, we pick up the pace with monthly gatherings. It’s taken a while to be able to “nail down” these dates. Put them on your calendar and plan to join in the conversation. The dates for our future conversations are September 21, October 19, and November 16. December and January dates are TBD.

Several of you have mentioned to me that you feel momentum beginning to build in our life together. May it continue! Please know that your Transition Team welcomes your questions and input. Your Transition Team consists of Robin Buck, Carla Hines, Ryan LaPrade, Tammie Lesesne, Mary Miller, Tucker Pearsall, and Sam Slack.

Tags: transition, update, congregational conversations

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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