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.
Comments