George Town Baptist Church welcomes a new pastor

Robert 'Bob' Goolsby and his wife, Sylvie were on holiday in Tasmania from NSW for one week.

Only three days into their holiday, the couple purchased a house in George Town, according to Mrs Goolsby.

"We felt God was calling us to George Town, we didn't know why, but now we do," she said.

"It was very strange to come all the way to Tasmania, we came for a weeks holiday and bought a house on the third day."

Mrs Goolsby was originally from France, but had lived in NSW for about 40 years before moving to George Town.

"Tasmania is beautiful, I'm an artist so I am just in awe of Tasmania," she said.

Mr Goolsby came to Australia from Golconda, Illinois in the USA.

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Mr Goolsby, like his wife, was blown away by Tasmania and eager to start anew in George Town.

"It's [Tasmania] wonderful, I love this place ... It's cooler than up there in NSW but warmer than Illinois," Mr Goolsby said.

"I've been involved in churches in a non-pastoral role in NSW.

"In my case I took a long sabbatical [pastoral duties] and so I'm really starting again after about 13 years, so it's kind of a new beginning."

Upon Mr and Mrs Goolsby's arrival in George Town, they discovered the local Baptist Church was in need of a pastor.

"This church was sort of a walk-in, we didn't come here to pastor, we came here to move and live ... and now we've become involved in the Tasmanian Baptists, it's a wonderful group," Mr Goolsby said.

Mr Goolsby's induction ceremony on Sunday saw not only members of the Baptist Church community welcome the new pastor, but other members of the George Town community as well.

"We've got a number of ministers here from town that are celebrating with us," Mr Goolsby said.

"The churches here are fairly well-knit together and friendly with each other."

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