An Announcement from the Pastoral Search Committee

 NBC has officially called Pastor Andrew ("Drew") Patton to be our full-time pastor. 

The vote was unanimous - and he & his wife, Mellissa, and their children, Briley, Logan, Evie, Isaac, Piper, and Celia, accepted our call.

His anticipated start date is Oct.,1, but is flexible since they have to sell their home in Illinois and find a home in Connecticut.

In the meantime, Pastor Bill will continue as our interim minister.

Thank you to all of you who participated in, cooked for, or hosted this "candidate" weekend, as well as anyone who assisted the Pastoral Search Committee during this process, which began Sept. 15, 2024.

Rev. Dr. Harry Riggs has been notified; SUNL & CPC will be contacted.

As we look toward the future, let us love God and love one another (Mark 12:30-31) while remembering the famous words of Rupertus Meldinius, from this morning's sermon:

"In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity". 

I am excited about meeting you and getting to know you as a church and as individuals. As a minister, and as a person, I believe in investing time and energy in relationships. I look forward to hearing your stories and telling you mine.

Here is a little bit about me and my family:

I was born and raised in a Christian family in Lyman, South Carolina. My father was the church pianist and also a deacon. My mother was the church secretary and sang in the church choir. In high school I participated in two mission trips—one to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and one to Caracas, Venezuela. These two trips changed the trajectory of my life and put me on a path toward being in ministry. After high school I attended a Baptist university where I majored in Christian Studies. I participated in several trips while in college and, during one of those trips, I met my wife Melissa. We became best friends and eventually fell in love and got married.

We were both called to missions, so after we got married we moved from South Carolina to Fort Worth, Texas to pursue seminary in order to go overseas. While in seminary we had three girls Briley, Logan, and Evelyn.

After seminary we moved back to South Carolina where I worked in a mega-church in the missions department while we prepared to go overseas. However, we had some medical issues come up that prevented us from being able to live overseas; so I took a job as an associate pastor of youth. After serving that church for two years, it became apparent that it was time for my family to move on. While in South Carolina we had two more children: our son Isaac and another daughter Piper.

During this time I made the transition from Southern Baptist to American Baptist.

After a few years of working on planting a church and serving in lay ministry, God called us to the St. Louis metro-east of Illinois. I served as senior pastor for almost five years until God moved us out of that church. While in Illinois, God blessed us with another daughter, Celia.

Since February of 2026, I have served as an interim pastor in a small town ABC church close to our home in Illinois. 

My passion in ministry is discipling people and churches to be the light of Christ in their community by loving God and loving others with compassion and empathy. I believe that each church has a distinct and specific calling to be Jesus’ hands and feet in a way that is both helpful and prophetic in their community; I love working with the people of the church to find that/those niche(s). 

I have always had a draw to work and live in the northeastern United States and I believe God is opening a door at Niantic Baptist Church, to see this dream realized.  I would ask very earnestly if you would pray for my family as we consider making this transition to Connecticut. Any move is hard, but it is especially hard for older teenagers: my oldest daughter will be a senior in high school and the next daughter will be a junior in high school.  Please pray that God would make plain His plan and that this transition would be as good and easy as possible.

I am praying for you, the Niantic Baptist Church, as you consider God’s will for the next pastorate.

I look forward to meeting you all soon!