GEORGETOWN—After nearly 30 years with their beloved pastor, Crestview Baptist Church in Georgetown decided on a novel approach to moving forward with a successor.
Pastor Dan Wooldridge and Tony Celelli, president of Stark College and Seminary in Corpus Christi, will co-pastor for the next year, until Wooldridge’s retirement.
The church needed a new associate pastor a couple of years ago, Wooldridge said. However, he suggested to the personnel committee that the church specifically consider hiring an associate pastor with the intent of becoming his successor as senior pastor, because he planned to retire in the not-too-distant future.
According to Wooldridge, the church put a lot of research and thought into the succession plan, because they knew the transition to a new pastor after a long-term pastor can be quite difficult.
“When a long-tenured pastor retires,” Wooldridge said, “the transitions often, maybe not every time but often, have been very rough.
“We wanted a continuity,” Wooldridge explained, where the handoff could go more smoothly.
The church wanted the new pastor to have time to understand the congregation and why it does what it does, with the outgoing pastor there to provide support, both to the congregation and the new pastor as they get to know one another.
Lead up to co-pastoring
Last summer, at the Texas Baptists Family Gathering in McAllen, Wooldridge ran into Celelli, who had served as youth minister at Crestview Baptist Church in 1995, not long after Wooldridge was called there as pastor.
He’d kept up with Celelli, but he’d never asked Celelli back to Crestview to preach after he moved on to other ministries. He asked Celelli if he’d fill in for him for a couple of weeks in August 2023.
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On one of the days Celelli was to preach, the son of a young man Celelli had served as youth minister in the 1990s was set to be baptized. The family was delighted to have Celelli perform the baptism, Wooldridge said.
The personnel committee began to ask whether they might be able to call Celelli, Wooldridge said. But knowing his dedication to Stark College and Seminary, Wooldridge doubted that course would be likely.
Because it was not his desire to choose his successor, Wooldridge told the selection committee, while they certainly could try to pursue Celelli as a candidate, he would not be part of that process.
He may have favored Celelli, but the church needed to call who God led them to, he asserted.
Before he became a candidate, Celelli provided consulting to the church on how to go about the co-pastor transition they had decided upon. Celelli had expertise in this area from working with several churches who’d attempted similar transitions, Wooldridge explained.
During the course of working together in a consulting capacity, the call to the church became clearer and clearer to the candidate, Wooldridge suggested, and culminated with Celelli accepting the call as the new co-pastor of Crestview Baptist Church on Aug. 5.
Transition year explained
A release to the congregation explained: “You will begin to see Pastor Tony around campus starting August 12, 2024.
“During the initial phase of the transition period, Tony will concentrate on getting to know the church, its members, ministries, and the community here in Georgetown, TX. During this period of orientation, you will also see Pastor Tony in the pulpit as he and Pastor Dan will share preaching duties among other aspects of ministry.
“During the second phase of transition, co-leadership, Pastors Tony and Dan will share all pastoral duties. In the final phase of transition, as we celebrate 30 years of faithful service of Pastor Dan, Pastor Tony will take on the leadership of Crestview Baptist Church with the support of Pastor Dan.”
Each of the phases will last four months, Wooldridge said. In the third phase, responsibilities will switch so that he will function essentially as Celelli’s associate pastor. At the end of the transition year, Wooldridge’s ministry at Crestview will conclude.
The church release also stated Celelli will remain president of Stark College and Seminary during the transition and expressed gratitude to the school for its mission.
During the call process, Celelli explained to the congregation the technology he utilizes and the trust he has in the vice-presidents at Stark—with whom he has worked for 11 years—which will support his efforts to lead both the seminary and the church effectively.
As long as he is doing both satisfactorily, Celelli will hold both the title of Stark College and Seminary president and co- /senior pastor of Crestview Baptist Church, he said in an email.
Celelli explained to the congregation he will manage this task “carefully,” “intentionally,” “honestly” and “humbly.”
Wooldridge named First Baptist Church in San Antonio, Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington, Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene and Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler as other Texas Baptist churches who have adopted a similar co-pastor transition model.
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