RPC Announces Senior Pastor Tom Gibbs’ Transition Into New Role This Summer.

Happy New Year! I hope you and your families were able to enjoy a satisfying, healthy and restful observance of the Christmas holiday. Our Christmas Eve services were special as always. Given the challenges of 2020, I know we are all praying that God will enable us to move on from the pandemic and begin to heal in 2021.

I’m coming to you by video today because Tara and I have some exciting and bittersweet news that we would like to share with you. After a long process of discernment, the Board of Trustees of Covenant Theological Seminary, the denominational seminary of the PCA, has recommended to the General Assembly of the PCA that I serve as its next president. The Assembly will vote on this recommendation at its next meeting, which is planned for the summer. We plan to remain in San Antonio through June and will transition to St Louis this summer. I will officially start in this new role around July 1.

When we moved to San Antonio, now almost 19 years ago, Redeemer Presbyterian Church was only a vision that the Lord had given to me. Like all seeds, however, this one was powerful and ready to take root, grow and bless our beautiful city. Though we didn’t know exactly how God was going to do it, my heart was filled with faith that he would do it. By God’s grace, I really believe we can all agree that the Lord has done more than we could ever have asked or imagined (Eph. 3:20)!

From that first home Bible study in 2002 with only a few families, Redeemer has grown into a thriving and diverse urban congregation with more than 900 members, whose hearts beat with the Gospel of grace and long to bring Christ to our city. Currently, Redeemer works alongside 50 local organizations, supports 11 foreign missionary families in four countries, supports 9 RUF ministries across Texas and Mexico and has helped plant numerous churches across the southwest. Along the way, Redeemer was also able to acquire this beautiful building and the block on which it sits, guaranteeing that Redeemer will continue to grow and bear witness to Christ in our city long into the future.

To be sure, the past 19 years have not all been easy. There have been many ups and downs, but God has seen us through it all just as he promised. What is more, we have all experienced God’s gracious and sanctifying hand of mercy. As the years continued, Tara and I began to think that God would never take us away from our church family and the city we love so much. In fact, we had committed to the Lord that we would not leave for another church calling; so important was the work in San Antonio. Putting it quite simply, San Antonio is now our home and Redeemer is our family. We could not bear the thought of leaving the land of George Strait, the San Antonio Spurs and the best breakfast tacos in America! We will always love you and this city dearly.

You should also know that despite being contacted about numerous opportunities over the last 19 years, I never once entertained a new opportunity. You and this church were too important to us. In June, however, a search consultant representing Covenant Theological Seminary contacted me about the President’s position. For those of you who do not know, Covenant Theological Seminary is located in St. Louis, MO and began in 1956. This is also the seminary from which I received both my Master of Divinity and my Doctor of Ministry degrees. As the denominational seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America, Covenant is the largest supplier of pastors in the PCA and its more than 4,500 alumni serve in a variety of ministry contexts among all 50 states and in over 40 countries.

While it’s hard to explain, I felt the Lord stirring in my heart the same way he had when we were called to San Antonio so many years ago. I knew immediately this was from the Lord and a process I could not dismiss. Close friends and mentors, several of whom had nominated me to serve in this position, encouraged me to engage this process. So began a more than six months long exploration that included questionnaires, interviews, background checks, and assorted evaluations. Despite their narrowing list of candidates, God kept moving us to the next round. In early December, Tara and I traveled to St. Louis for an in-person interview, after which the search committee made its recommendation to the board.

During the past 6 months three things became increasingly clear to me.

• First, Redeemer is in the strongest position in our congregation’s history. By almost any measure—congregational maturity, lay leadership, staff, facilities, diversity, financial strength, missional-mindset—Redeemer is thriving and on mission. What Redeemer has become is what I had always hoped Redeemer would become. I cannot tell you what a privilege it has been to have been able to serve this congregation and minister in San Antonio.

• Secondly, the gifts, ministry experience and passions the Lord has given to me and Tara wonderfully align with the needs and future priorities of Covenant Seminary. Ever since our seminary days, CTS has held a special place in our hearts. In so many ways, the vision out of which was born Redeemer was incubated in the Covenant Seminary community. Now, after 23 years of ministry experience, the lessons in ministry that Tara and I have learned will add to that legacy and be able to benefit a new generation of ministry leaders.

• Finally, though a daunting proposition, the opportunity to lead Covenant is genuinely exciting to me. This is a critical time for all theological institutions like Covenant. We live in a time of increasing cultural, technological, societal, and theological turbulence, and Covenant’s emphases to train up pastor-scholars shaped by Biblical authority, the Reformed tradition, missional and cultural engagement and service to the church have never been more important.

Today marks an important milestone in the life of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. No matter how my transition was going to emerge, I’ve always said that my departure would be the last gift I give to Redeemer. That’s why it’s important to remember that though these next months will be difficult (as every change is), this is actually an exciting process. Tara and I don’t view ourselves as leaving Redeemer so much as being sent out from Redeemer to share all that we have learned with and through you.

In all honesty, I am excited to see who God is going to bring to lead this thriving faith community into its next generation of ministry. It’s true that God has done a lot already at and through Redeemer. But there is so much more kingdom work God has for Redeemer in our city! He already knows who that person is and has been preparing him for you. With that in mind, I reminded of Hebrews 11, the great chapter on faith, that we also are journeying together. It is with that faith that we choose not to hold too tightly to what is passing away and to instead press towards the eternal city and our everlasting hope that is to come (Heb. 11:10).

Even so, we will miss each and every one of you. This was and is a very hard decision for us. Many tears have already been shed; we know many more are to come. But we know that the bonds which have tied us together in and through Christ cannot be severed by geographical distance. You can count on our returning to San Antonio frequently and we hope you will visit us in St. Louis!

I know that this is momentous news. So, on Sunday, following the second service, there will be an informal Q/A in the sanctuary so that you can process this news with me and Tara. We truly look forward to being with you.

You can also be assured that I will offer my assistance to the Session and staff as they lead the congregation in the important steps of the search process and pastoral transition. While this news is sad for all of us, the Session is confident that the Lord will lead us through this transition. In the weeks ahead, you’ll be hearing more about those steps.

In closing I’d like to return to the apostle Paul’s benediction from Ephesians 3:20-21 to which I referred earlier.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. —Ephesians 3:20-21