The Pastoral Search Committee wants to give you an important update. We are over
20 months into our search, and we thank you for your patience and prayerful support
during that time. When we started the search, Dr. Harry Riggs shared that most
churches take 2 to 3 years in the search, a fact we didn’t want to acknowledge. We also
had the privilege of being led by Chaplain Joe for most of this time. When we hired
Chaps, he described his ideal pastor and hopes for the future of NBC. We’ve received
your input, reflected on the past and future of the church, and asked God for guidance
and discernment.
Now, we are excited to announce that we have unanimously selected a candidate to
recommend as our settled pastor. We have chosen the Reverend Andrew Patton from a
field of thirteen candidates. During our interviews, Pastor Drew stood out. He is a faithful
man of God, a dedicated student of the Word, a caring shepherd, a loving husband and
father of six, a passionate musician, and has a huge heart for missions. All these were
characteristics that aligned perfectly with the Church Profile you helped us develop.
Pastor Drew expressed a vision to help maintain and grow strong connections within
our congregation, to lead our church in community outreach, and to grow the church
across generations. This all felt to be clear guidance from God as the pieces seemed to
fall into place after the prayer vigil.
Pastor Drew will be here in Niantic for the weekend of August 14 – 16 to candidate for
the position of pastor. Pastor Drew will be accompanied by his wife, Melissa, and their
six children. Pastor Drew will meet with the Diaconate and Pastoral Search Committee
and then, on Saturday evening, the whole church will have the opportunity to meet
Pastor Drew and his family and join them for a potluck supper at the church. Pastor
Drew will be in the pulpit for our service on Sunday morning. Following the service –
active church members will be asked to stay and vote on whether the church will be
calling Pastor Drew as our new pastor.
Again, the PSC wants to thank you all for your support and prayers during this time and
would like to invite you to participate in another prayer vigil from sunrise to sunset on
August 8.
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!