At a congregational meeting on August 25, the congregation of Briarwood Presbyterian Church elected a pulpit committee to search for its next senior pastor. The search comes 15 months after its former senior pastor, Harry Reeder, passed away on May 18, 2023. For the past nine months, the church has been led by Dan Doriani who was called by the elders to serve as interim pastor.

The next senior pastor will be the third senior pastor in the church’s 64-year history. Briarwood was founded by Frank Barker who pastored the congregation from 1960 to 1998, during which the church hosted the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America in 1973. In 1999, the church called Harry Reeder, who served until he was called home to be with the Lord in May 2023. 

In July 2023 the church announced in its weekly bulletin that the elders decided to seek interim leadership who would “fill the role of Senior Pastor with special emphasis on assisting the Session and Congregation to prepare for a successful long-term transition to a new Senior Pastor.” Their search led them to Doriani, professor of biblical and systematic theology at Covenant Theological Seminary. Doriani has previously served as the interim pastor for several churches and was the senior pastor at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Louis from 2003-2013. He officially began serving in the interim leadership role on December 1, 2023. 

“Briarwood both laments the loss of Pastor Reeder and gives thanks for his great gifts, godliness, and dedication,” Doriani said in a statement to byFaith. “This year, as we look forward to the call of our next lead pastor, we are strengthening the foundations of our ministries so that, by God’s grace, we will be ready to receive our next senior pastor.”

The elders recently provided church members two weeks to nominate candidates to serve on the pulpit committee. The session also formed a nominating committee to consider the nominees and select the 12 members of the pulpit committee. In an update to the congregation, Ruling Elder Billy Ball announced that the session “has established that the pulpit committee will consist of Ruling Elders, Deacons, Women and members both married and single representing a cross-section of our church by including folks across all adult age groups.” 

At its meeting on Sunday, the congregation voted to approve the proposed pulpit committee.