Inside a Pastor Search

For the first time in my ministry career, I have found myself on staff at a church that has become pastorless.  Our former pastor succeeded in leading what was an aging neighborhood congregation in a transitional, diverse, inner-city neighborhood to examine itself, look at the future, and make enough necessary changes to get into position to experience a time of growth and development.  Beginning with a renovation of a preschool and children’s area of the building in need of a serious upgrade, starting a small groups ministry, reaching out to younger families and couples, and eventually adding a contemporary worship service, the church has numerically remained about the same size that it was when he came, about 275 people in worship.  But it has experienced the death of about 150 of its members over his tenure, and they have been replaced with younger families with youth, children and preschoolers, and a number of younger and middle aged couples who are more reflective of the make-up of the neighborhood that is transitioning into a more affluent haven for a very diverse group of mostly professional, highly educated career people who want to move back into the city to get away from commutes into the downtown area that run as long as an hour and a half in a city with virtually no real public transportation.  About the only part of town that is “hotter” than ours, in terms of property, is the south central area that lies along the one light rail line that exists.  We’ve just been told this week that we are scheduled to have one run through our area on the next go round.

So, we are in the process of selecting a search committee and gathering the names of potential candidates to consider.  We have put a notice on the SBC’s job board, and with the BGCT’s electronic resume service with a description of our church and the kind of ministry we have.  The association has also been notified.  So far, we have received about 50, give or take a half dozen, resumes from potential candidates.  We have generally stated that the salary is negotiable, based on experience and education, that we are looking for someone who has about five years of pastoral experience, at least a Master’s degree from a seminary, and have described ourselves as an established inner-city congregation with small groups, traditional Bible study, two services, both contemporary and traditional,  diverse in cultural background, and racially diverse.  About a third of our active members are hispanic, and we have several Asian and African American families and individual members.  We are diverse in age, with about a third of the congregation being considered senior adults, a third in the 40-60 age bracked, and a third under 40, including about 50 preschoolers, children and youth, and a burgeoning, growing nursery population. We had 10 babies born into the church in the span of about three months last year. 

It is interesting to note that of the 50 or so candidates from whom we have received resumes, only about a dozen meet the experience and educational requirements.  They are either young guys in their first church out of seminary, or still completing a degree, or men in their 50’s and 60’s called into ministry after a career in another field.  Only one is from Texas, and most of the others, much to my surprise, are from states that Southern Baptists would consider “pioneer” fields.  We have a lot of candidates from Indiana, Ohio and the upper Midwest, and from California and the Midwest.  Many of them are natives of Southern states.  It seems to me, with an abundance of ministers in the South, the SBC would be encouraging people to move North and stay there.  But that doesn’t seem to be the trend.

Something else that I noticed was the relatively short period of time most of those who have sent resumes have served in their current position.  There are few that are in their third year, most are somewhere between 18 months and two years, and there are a lot with less than 18 months of service in their current position.  Our previous pastor was here for sixteen years, and his predecessor for somewhere near 14 years, so our church is experiencing only its second pastoral search in 30 years.  It may be hard to match expectations with individuals who have served for such a short period of time.

As the search progresses, I’ll share some more insights, particularly about the dynamics of a search team and the congregation as it waits to find out who its new pastor will be.

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