Covenant Seminary rejoices with Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama, at the church’s recent announcement that Dr. Dan Doriani, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Covenant, has been selected to serve as Interim Senior Pastor for the congregation beginning in December 2023. The choice of Dr. Doriani for this interim role is the result of a months-long search by a team appointed by the church’s session following the unexpected passing of Briarwood’s long-time Senior Pastor, Dr. Harry Reeder, in May 2023.

Dr. Doriani will serve part time in the Interim Senior Pastor role during the spring of 2024 while continuing with a full slate of teaching commitments at Covenant Seminary for that semester. Following that, he will assume a full year of interim pastoral responsibilities at Briarwood with a reduced teaching load at the Seminary. His interim duties will continue through June 2025. He plans to return to full-time teaching duties at Covenant when the interim role concludes.

The Session of Briarwood stated in an announcement to the congregation that, “It is with great joy that we are able to announce to you that our Lord has graciously led our Session to unanimously call Dr. Dan Doriani to serve as our Intentional Interim Pastor beginning December 1, 2023. Once again God has proven Himself faithful to our church family, providing an experienced and gifted Interim Pastor to shepherd and lead us through our time of transition. . . . We look forward to having him with us for the first three Sundays of Advent . . . and we thank the Lord for providing such a blessing.” (See the full announcement here.)

Rev. Dr. Tom Gibbs, President of Covenant Seminary, commented, “We are excited about and grateful for this opportunity for Dan Doriani to help lead and shepherd the people of Briarwood as they continue to mourn the passing of Dr. Reeder and seek a new Senior Pastor. Dr Reeder is sorely missed and left some big shoes to fill, but we are confident that Dan’s experience and expertise will serve this flagship congregation of the PCA well for the time he is there. We pray for a successful pastoral search and for God’s blessing on the church and our denomination.”

A skilled and experienced leader and teacher, Dr. Doriani has previously been a pastor or interim pastor for several churches, most recently Interim Senior Pastor for Greentree Community Church (EPC) in Kirkwood, Missouri. He also was Senior Pastor of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Clayton, Missouri, for eleven years. Before his time at Central, he served at Covenant Seminary as an Academic Dean and Vice President for fifteen years, then later returned to the Seminary to take on various roles, including Vice President of Strategic Academic Initiatives and Professor of Theology (2013–2017), Vice President at Large (2017–2019), and, most recently, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology (2019–present). Dr. Doriani also founded and is Director of the Center for Faith and Work St. Louis, is on the executive team for The Gospel Coalition, and is active with Reformation21 and the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. He is the author of numerous articles, blog posts, and books, including the newly revised and updated edition of Getting the Message: A Plan for Interpreting and Applying the Bible (P&R, 2022), Work: Its Purpose, Dignity, and Transformation (P&R 2019), The New Man: Becoming a Man after God’s Heart (P&R, 2015), and several volumes in the Reformed Expository Commentary series (also published by P&R).