A year and a half after the death of its lead pastor, one of Birmingham’s biggest churches has identified a candidate to be his successor.

A search committee at Briarwood Presbyterian Church has recommended Scott Redd serve as the historic church’s next lead pastor. If elected by the congregation, he would be the third lead pastor at the church which helped launch a denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America.

Redd is currently president of Reformed Theological Seminary’s campus in Washington, D.C.

In materials presented by the committee, he wrote he has “long admired Briarwood’s reputation for gospel-centered leadership” and that he is “profoundly humbled to be considered for this role in such a vibrant and faithful church community.”

Redd grew up in a military family and is a graduate of The College of William & Mary who worked in media consulting before going into the ministry. He and his wife, Jennifer, have five daughters.

“Over the past nine months, through countless hours of prayer, sermon review, interviews, study, and careful evaluation, we have seen God’s hand guiding us in unity and with clarity to the man we believe He has called,” Briarwood’s search committee wrote in an online “booklet” presenting Redd and his family.

Redd preaches and teaches regularly at churches in the D.C. area, including Fourth Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Bethesda, Maryland, where he is an ordained Teaching Elder, and Grace Downtown Church (PCA) in Washington, D.C. where he serves as Scholar-in-Residence.

He has taught at The Catholic University of America, the Augustine Theological Institute in Malta, the International Training Institute in the Mediterranean basin, C.S. Lewis Institute, and for Third Millennium Ministries.

If confirmed in the position, Redd will be the third person to hold the role at Briarwood on a permanent basis.

The Rev. Frank Barker founded Briarwood Presbyterian in 1960, first opening its doors in a Cahaba Heights storefront. He retired in 1999 and died in December 2021 at 89.

During his tenure the church grew to a membership reported to be more than 4,000. Barker oversaw the construction of a $32 million campus near the Acton Road exit on Interstate 459 in 1988. A decade later, a $5.5 million expansion was added. According to a 2021 AL.com profile, he also oversaw the creation of Briarwood Christian School and helped found the Birmingham Theological Seminary. He also had a significant national role in the rise of the conservative Presbyterian Church in America, which was formed in the early 1970s and became one of the country’s largest Presbyterian church organizations.

He was followed by the Rev. Harry Reeder III, who was killed in a 2023 car crash. The Rev. Dan Doriani was named interim minister late that year.

According in information from the Pulpit Committee, Redd will preach at two services on June 8 and will meet the congregation at other events afterward. The committee has requested a congregational meeting and vote on June 15.