The Perils and Promise of the Pastor Search Process

There is an unpredictable rhythm to Associational ministry. We are currently in a period of transition in several of our churches. What this means for me personally is that I have said goodbye to some long standing friends—at least from the regular round of church events and gatherings at which I am accustomed to seeing them. It happens. A few years ago, a young pastor finished his MBA at Georgia Southern University and moved on from one of our association churches to work in a career that allowed him to become a self-supporting missionary wherever his assignments took him. I think that is beyond cool, but I miss our lunches at the Chinese restaurant in Sylvania.

Most of the time when churches are in transition, they usually name a pastor search committee. Often I get to train these teams. I consider it a great honor to do this and I believe it is vitally important.  What are some of the key principles and best practices that committees should follow in conducting their search?  Here are several:

1. Saturate the process with prayer – This is so obvious it barely needs stating.  The only way to get a spiritual outcome is through spiritual means. Some churches include special congregational prayer for the search team at regular intervals. Make the process a God-centered, supernatural process.

2. Avail yourself to training and implement time-acknowledged best practices – Even though I almost always am sorry to see pastors go, one of my favorite things to do is work with pastor search teams. We provide:
·     Instructional training for search teams. This is especially helpful when a person has never served and everything starts to come fast and furious.
·    A manual (printed and digital) with plentiful resources. This manual reinforces the teaching points and has an appendix full of various forms that help the committee not have to reinvent the wheel.
·    Resources for obtaining resumes. We provide a hyper-linked resource for obtaining resumes from many seminaries and State Conventions.
·     Ongoing support from our office. One of the best resources we can provide to churches is ourselves. We are committed to prayerfully supporting churches with information and assistance, not just in their search for a pastor, but in resourcing other practical church needs.

3. Avoid these common pitfalls – There are a number of ways the search process can go in the ditch:
·    Bad etiquette and ethics – Almost every pastor can tell a horror story about being contacted by a pastor search committee and then having said committee become as elusive as Bigfoot. No! Be courteous! Be professional!
·    Dog and pony show – It is a very bad practice to have a continuous flow of candidates in the church’s pulpit until the committee has thoroughly vetted the candidate and is ready to present him “in view of a call.” Like Annora Mallard says, “This turns the whole church into a pulpit committee.”
·    Ignoring red flags – In the course of investigating a candidate there may be problems that predict a pastor will be a bad fit for your church. Pay close attention to red flags like denominational incompatibility. Your church is probably not the exception to some rule.
·    Inadequate investigation of candidate – Many bad ministry hires could have been avoided with a more thorough, deliberate process of looking into the ministry candidate’s background. Everybody puts their buddies on their resume as references. Committees have to go beyond the references the candidate has made available. Criminal background investigations should be considered mandatory, but even that is really only the tip of the iceberg. Call the Director of Missions in the areas the candidate has previously served. Don’t get bitten by something avoidable.
·    Over-spiritualizing – God may drop a candidate into your church from the sky, but more than likely you will have to work really hard and turn over a few stones to find the right person. This is particularly true of some bi-vocational churches.

The Middle Baptist Association exists to bless her member churches by serving their needs. We can help and if we can’t help we’ll find someone who can!

Blessings!


Bobby Braswell, Jr.

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