b'WelcomeAND INTRODUCTIONDear Prospective Senior Pastor,ThankyouforyourinterestinFirstBaptistChurchinAbilene,Texas.Ourchurchwas established in December 1881, only six months after the founding of our city. Since that time, First Baptist has served a major role in shaping the development, character, and soul of Abilene. Over the last 100 years First Baptist has had only seven senior pastors, a clear indication of the stability of the church and the richness of the relationship between pastor and congregation. Through the years, First Baptist has demonstrated a unique combination of tradition and innovation.Ourcongregationworshipsinabeautifully-renovatedclassicalsanctuary and offers traditional programming through Sunday morning Bible classes, Wednesday evening spiritual formation activities, and other weekday ministries. Our gifted choir, full orchestra, and world-class pipe organ, lead the congregation in beautiful arrangements of traditional and modern worship music. Historically, First Baptist is also a congregation who regularly identifies unmet needs in our city and then develops new ways of meeting those needs. As a creative church, we were one of the first to build a family life center, to launch a ministry of counseling, and to pioneer other ministries that have become commonplace in churches, like Disciple Now for youth. At present we are beginning to renovate an entire city block that will be the location of our new Hope Center, which will dramatically expand our capacity to minister to people in our community. The center is currently projected to cost $8.8 million, an amount we have in hand through contributions and pledges.The Hope Center is the latest expression of the churchs heritage of commitment to missions, going back to 1905 when the congregation sent its first missionary, Blanche Rose Walker, to China. In recent years the church completed a $5 million campaign for missions to fund a variety of projects, including sending CBF field personnel from our church to five different countries.Our church is a big tent fellowship in the sense of the breadth of theological and social perspectives represented in our congregation. At the same time, we have been historically progressive on several fronts, including the adoption of an anti-racism policy in 1963 and the ordination of women as deacons and ministers since 1996. To expand our missional 2'