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First Baptist Church welcomes Paul Wiseheart as new pastor
Nearly two years of prayer and searching recently culminating with the hiring of a new pastor at First Baptist Church in Greencastle.
The congregation has welcomed Pastor Paul Wiseheart and wife Melanie to the church family.
The Wisehearts come to Greencastle from New Hope Community Church in New Washington, where they had served since 2015.
As the senior pastor, Wiseheart organized several community events, provided pastoral care for families who lost loved ones, performed an end of life service in a hospital, facilitated weddings and funerals, oversaw the completion of a large building project, designed a church logo and website and launched consistent outreach events for families in the community.
Prior to his time at New Hope, Paul was a member of Faith Community Church in New Albany, working with the youth and young adults for nine years fulfilling many different roles including Sunday school teacher, middle and high school youth leader and young adult leader. He also helped lead and organize youth and young adult mission trips to Haiti.
Paul graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in biblical and theological studies from Boyce College in Louisville and is currently enrolled at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School to finish work on an Advanced Placement Master of Divinity that he began at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.
Paul was raised by Christian parents and at age 16 committed his life to God’s call into full-time ministry.
Outside of his work as a pastor, Paul enjoys spending time with his wife Melanie, backpacking, fishing, playing board games, woodworking, reading and studying the New Testament in Greek.
The Wisehearts enjoy serving the Lord together. Her skillsets in music and working with families complement his ministry well. They both love entertaining guests in their home and playing euchre.
Melanie is a board-certified music therapist, focusing her work in trauma-informed care in mental health and medical settings. In her role as Youth Ministry Director at New Hope Community Church, Melanie organized local outreach events, devoted herself to prayer with other church leaders in the community, spearheaded Vacation bible school, planned and facilitated youth outings and annual retreats, led a mission trip and regularly led worship and Bible study.
Recently she has worked with community leaders to initiate programming to combat the opioid crisis through mental health care and spiritual support for addicts and their families. Melanie loves speaking at music therapy conferences and advocating for music therapy in healthcare settings.
After Pastor Randy McNeely retired on May 31, 2016, a pastoral search team was formed consisting of Dan Woodall, Howard Brooks, Mike Schimpf, Julie Black and Scott Dunbar. Over the next one year and nine months, this group spent countless hours in prayer and discerning conversation while speaking with a myriad of pastoral candidates from all over the United States.
Several times they thought the search was coming to an end, but the Lord would close that door and point them in a different direction. In early 2018, it was made quite clear to the group that one of the two candidates they were conversing with would be the pastoral candidate presented to the congregation for approval. Through a series of open, honest and God-centered discussions, Wiseheart was chosen.
First Baptist Church is located at 404 Judson Dr., Greencastle. Sunday morning worship is each week at 9:30 a.m. followed by Sunday school at 11.
Extra services for Easter weekend will include sunrise service at 8:15 a.m. followed by breakfast at 8:45. From there, the usual schedule will follow with worship at 9:30 and Sunday school at 11.
Events are open to the community and all are welcome to join.