Welcome!
We have been truly blessed to have Dr. Matt Brown serve as pastor of SMPC for 21 years! With both gratitude and sadness, we share that Matt has announced his retirement, effective December 1, 2025. His final Sunday preaching at SMPC will be November 23, 2025.
The excitement is building as we prepare to celebrate Dr. Matt Brown’s upcoming retirement! To help honor his time and contributions to SMPC, a committee has been formed to plan a series of special events. We’d love for you to be part of the celebration!
Please fill out the Retirement Celebration Planning Interest form and share how you might like to get involved.
Contact: Kathy Graham – [email protected]
On Sunday, June 22, the Transition Committee met with the Session and representatives of the Presbytery of Charlotte: Jan Edmiston, General Presbyter, and John Magee, SMPC’s liaison for the Presbytery’s Committee on Ministry. The Transition Committee updated the group on their next steps in filling the two interim roles (a part-time Parish Associate and a full-time Transitional Pastor), and Edmiston and Magee offered insight and support through the process.
The Committee is finalizing the interim part-time Parish Associate job description and will begin to consider candidates in the next couple of weeks. The Committee’s goal is to fill this position as quickly as possible so that all of our congregational care needs will continue to be met as we move through the transition process.
Additionally, the Committee has begun to work on the Transitional Pastor job description as well as the PC(USA)’s version of a job listing called a Ministry Discernment Profile (MDP). When these documents are completed, and after approval of the Session and Presbytery’s Committee on Ministry, they will be posted on the PC(USA)’s Church Leadership Connection (their “job board”), our own website, and the Presbytery of Charlotte’s website.
Transition Committee members include: Nancy Metzler (chair), Michael Choren, Terry Gaines, Frank Graham, Crystal Myers, Joel Winchip, Gayle Ireland (Clerk of Session), and Mary Katheryne Zagora (staff liaison).
If you have any questions about the transition process, please contact Nancy Metzler at [email protected].
The Transition Committee has begun meeting to work through the transition process outlined by The Book of Order and the Presbytery of Charlotte. The Committee is working to fill two interim roles: a part-time Parish Associate and a full-time Transitional Pastor.
SMPC’s open Associate Pastor position will remain open throughout the transition, allowing our new Senior Pastor flexibility to design their staff structure after they are called. During the transition, the part-time Parish Associate will focus on congregational care and leading our deacons and their ministry. The Committee is finalizing the part-time Parish Associate job description and will begin to consider candidates in the next couple of weeks. The Committee’s goal is to fill this position as quickly as possible so that all of our congregational care needs will continue to be met as we move through the transition process.
Additionally, the Committee has begun to work on the Transitional Pastor job description as well as the PC(USA)’s version of a job listing called a Ministry Discernment Profile (MDP). When these documents are completed, and after approval of the session and Presbytery’s Committee on Ministry, they will be posted on the PC(USA)’s Church Leadership Connection (their “job board”) site, our own website, and the Presbytery of Charlotte’s website.
Committee members include Nancy Metzler, chair, Michael Choren, Terry Gaines, Frank Graham, Crystal Myers, Joel Winchip, Gayle Ireland as Clerk of Session and Mary Katheryne Zagora as staff liaison. If you have any questions about the transition process, please contact Nancy Metzler at 704-562-3518 or [email protected].
Read Personnel Committee Chair Janet Morgan's letter to the congregation here.