George Wright named new pastor at Shades Mountain Baptist Church

George Wright was selected as the next senior pastor at Shades Mountain Baptist Church in a church business meeting Sunday, June 27. Wright preached in view of a call in the church’s two services Sunday morning. 

He comes to Shades from Shandon Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., where he has served for more than four years. Prior to arriving in Columbia, Wright planted Cedarcrest Church in Acworth, Ga. and pastored there for 11 years. Within the first six years of founding the church, nearly 50% of the members who joined had never been part of a church before. A native of Atlanta, Ga., Wright earned his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of South Carolina before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as the eighth-grade pastor at Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas during seminary, and upon graduation, became teaching pastor at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga.

“We could not be any more excited,” Wright said to a room full of congregants following a Get to Know You event Sunday evening. “What God has done in our family and in our lives these last few months has been a true gift from the Lord.

“We are thrilled to join the family here,” Wright added, “and we can’t wait to get started.”

Wright’s appointment as senior pastor concludes a six-month search process for Shades Mountain. Following Dr. Danny Wood’s retirement announcement on Jan. 10, the church hired Vanderbloemen, a nationally recognized executive search firm specializing in ministry organizations, to assist in conducting the process. Nearly 100 names were vetted with the nine-person committee narrowing in on Wright this Spring.

“We’re thrilled with the place God has brought us,” said Steve Foster, chairman of the pastor search committee. “It’s with great anticipation God will continue his work through Shades Mountain Baptist Church under George’s leadership.”

Wright begins at Shades on Aug. 16 with his first sermon scheduled to be preached on Sept. 12