Berrien Springs—On March 22, 2023, the Search Committee responsible for selecting a new lead pastor for Pioneer Memorial Church (PMC) extended an invitation to Pastor Shane Anderson to serve in that capacity.
Since 2004, Anderson has served as senior pastor of the New Market church (Potomac Conference) that also functions as the campus church for Shenandoah Valley Academy (SVA) in New Market, VA. He has also served in Washington State as senior pastor of the Forest Park church and lead pastor of Life House Seventh-day Adventist Fellowship.
PMC is a church within the Michigan Conference that resides on the campus of Andrews University. As such, selecting the pastoral staff is the responsibility of the Michigan Conference. The University is an entity of the Lake Union Conference and home to the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, an institution of the General Conference. Due to the unique relationship of PMC and Andrews University, the standard process for selecting the lead pastor was a bit different.
Conference administrators met with the PMC elders and the pastoral staff on September 1 after Pastor Dwight Nelson announced his impending retirement during the Sabbath worship hour on August 13, 2022. Together, they outlined the unique process for selecting the new lead pastor that included an electronic survey of the church elders and the formation of the Search Committee, with Jim Micheff (president, Michigan Conference), serving as chairman of the committee. The Michigan Conference, Andrews University, Lake Union Conference, General Conference, and PMC were represented on the committee. Student representatives coordinated by the chaplains from Andrews University and the PMC pastoral team also provided valuable input during the process.
The committee met monthly to pray and thoughtfully evaluate potential, well-qualified candidates for the position. Names were added to the list of candidates, including some PMC members. The committee considered each name within the framework of the expressed needs of the students, pastoral team, and represented committee members. The committee eventually narrowed down the list and interviewed each pastoral couple on the short list on March 9, 2023.
After months of prayerful and thoughtful review and consideration, Shane Anderson was selected. On the evening of March 22, 2023, the official call to serve as the next lead pastor of PMC was extended after the elders had the opportunity to meet and dialogue with the Andersons.
“What a joy it has been to work with the Search Committee,” said Jim Micheff.
“Throughout the process, there has been such a sweet spirit and shared desire for God to reveal His choice to serve as PMC’s lead pastor. Although there were many qualified and gifted candidates, we believe God led us to the Andersons. They seem uniquely matched for PMC, and we believe God has been preparing them for this time.”
Observations
We believe this is a good choice for PMC. I don’t know him well, but I met Shane at a meeting in Ohio in 2012. He was a good listener and struck me as someone who cared about the Adventist message and church body. He gave a very good Sabbath sermon that day.
Back in 2021, faithful members and leaders in the Potomac Conference helped defeat an attempt by the Conference to separate themselves from accountability to the world church in their bylaws. As the senior pastor of the New Market Church, Pastor Anderson was among those who discovered the attempt and helped to expose it. It was soundly defeated in their March Constituency meeting.
It was a notable victory for structural unity in the Seventh-day Adventist Church during a time when pro-women’s ordination mountebanks in North America were attempting to establish congregationalism for their agenda.
Anderson is also the author of a book— How to Kill Adventist Education: And How to Give It a Fighting Chance. The book has high reviews on Amazon: 4.6 out of 5.
Shane Anderson has served on multiple school boards, school finance committees, accreditation teams, and building committees, and has been a member of conference and academy executive committees. He has been observing what works—and what doesn't—in the Adventist education system for nearly 15 years.
May the Lord bless PMC with renewed faithfulness to the Advent Message and the Bible. Along with the new Andrews University president, we believe God will give this Adventist institution a revitalized sense of identity.
Rejoice always!
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“But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens” (Exodus 18:21).