Foundry’s Last Ten Years
Ten years ago, Foundry Church was without a lead teaching pastor after Syd Brestel retired from 25 years of service, the longest in the church’s 110-year history. A small committee, including this author, had been meeting weekly since January of 2014 to find someone who could fill Syd’s shoes.
We considered ourselves a healthy church at the time. Two highly skilled and devoted members shared interim preaching duties (and coincidently, are regular contributors to this blog!). A recent influx of young families had energized the congregation, and the committee’s stated goal was “To have the Holy Spirit lead us into our next phase of introducing Jesus to those in Bend who do not yet know Him, but desperately need Him.” With excitement and faith, we trusted God would bring us the right man.
By May of 2014, the search committee had narrowed the candidate pool from 21 to five. We met with each of our top five and discussed their strengths and weaknesses. After these meetings and much deliberation, each committee member submitted their rankings. Only one candidate was listed in everyone’s top three, a church planter in Hermiston, Oregon with an intriguing story and an Appalachian accent.
The story was that the candidate, Trevor Waybright, had changed his mind about looking for a new pulpit. He requested to be withdrawn from consideration but was somehow, in God’s providence, “mistakenly” sent our way. Trevor’s faith journey was leading him from legalistic, guilt-laden obedience to a vibrant, free love of Jesus. This provoked him to re-plant his own church plant, switching its affiliation from Independent Baptist to CB Northwest (now Church Venture NW). An audacious move, Victory ultimately thrived under its revived leader, which certainly helped Trevor feel more content staying in Hermiston. However, in God’s providence, Trevor’s request to withdraw as a candidate was either ignored or overlooked by CB Northwest.
To learn more about Trevor the candidate, we spoke with multiple tiers of references, including our current youth pastor, Jason. I also spoke to an atheist who described Trevor as “salt of the earth” and the best soccer referee he knew. I even had an awkward conversation with a man from Trevor’s fundamentalist days whose nicest complement was that Trevor “married a great woman.” Overall, the references were overwhelmingly positive, and by the end of June, Foundry officially had a pastoral candidate. Shortly after, Trevor and his family were on their way to Bend to become part of our church family.
The committee loved Trevor’s unique notes-less preaching style, his fearless honesty, and his contagious passion for the gospel. Although he excelled in communication from the pulpit, my assessment was that his greatest strengths were away from the stage. He exuded a humble willingness to be led by the Spirit, cared for his congregation like the good shepherd, and his amazing, joyful wife and three children adorned him like a robe and crown.
Ten years later, I reflect on our decision to hire Trevor and have no doubt I would make the same decision again. Foundry’s 120-year track record of faithfully teaching the Bible, making disciples of Christ, and loving Jesus and our neighbors has remained intact under his leadership. Our church’s commitment to faithfully follow Christ, especially during the hardest times, has blossomed.
