Shades Mountain Independent Church welcomes new senior pastor

Shades Mountain Independent Church will soon welcome its third senior pastor in the church’s history.

A new senior pastor, Richard Goertzen, will start at Shades Mountain Independent Church (SMI) on Sunday, Jan. 10. Goertzen was senior pastor at Grace Bible Church in Hutchinson, Kansas before coming to SMI.

Goertzen received his masters and doctorate at The Masters College in California and has an undergraduate degree from Southeastern Bible College in Birmingham. He has previously served in churches in Argo, Alabama, Louisiana, California and Kansas.

Goertzen will take over as senior pastor following Harry Walls, who left SMI last year to work at The Masters College. After Walls left, the search for a new senior pastor at SMI took nine months.

The Pastoral Search Committee and the Elders recommended Goertzen, and he preached to the congregation twice in October. One week later, the congregation voted to call him the next senior pastor at SMI. Goertzen preached his last sermon at Grace Bible Church on Sunday, Dec. 27.