Searching for a Pastor

"I Wish We Had (Or Hadn't)…"
Ten Common Search Committee Mistakes

PCA Stated Clerk Dr. L. Roy Taylor has watched search committees make the following errors over the years. Steer clear of them and you could save yourself much time and a lot of heartache.

Failing to check out a candidate's track record. Dig deeper than his data form. How has he gotten along with people? Do his members feel he is accessible? Has his ministry been balanced? Check denominational yearbooks and make statistical charts of membership, profession of faith, giving, etc. over the space of his ministry.

Requiring a unanimous recommendation from the committee. While unanimous consent works for some churches, one member can slow down or stop the search process for long periods. Moreover, many times a unanimous consent rule forces those with serious reservations about a candidate to suppress them just to end the search.

Making a decision based on a first impression. What you see is not necessarily what you will get. Take time to check secondary references (other names given to you by the candidate's primary references) and give them greater weight.

Choosing a candidate that the church wants rather than the candidate the church needs. Churches need ministers with different skills, gifts, and abilities at various stages in their development. A church planted five years ago does not need another church planter when its pastor leaves; it needs a minister for an established church to take it to the next level of growth. Look carefully at your vision for ministry to determine what your church really needs.

Choosing a candidate who cannot adapt to the local culture of the community and church. Some ministers are flexible, others are not. An inner city pastor might not do well in suburbia, nor a suburban pastor in a rural area. Different areas of the country have different personalities; someone from Boston might have a hard time in Southern California. Concentrate on people from a similar background or who have gifts in cross-cultural adaptation.

Failing to evaluate the church's true condition. All churches have problems. Beware the search committee who answers a prospective minister's query, "What are your problems?" with "Oh, we don't have any problems." Be honest about your church's condition.

Choosing a candidate because he is either exactly like or exactly opposite the former pastor. Often a "clone" has a very short ministry when the congregation realizes they cannot replace his predecessor. When a committee calls a candidate to replace a pastor with weak skills in one area, they often concentrate only on calling his opposite, someone with strong skills in that area and ignore completely the candidate's competence (or lack of it) in other areas.

Evaluating the candidate's sermons upon ones he has chosen, not the committee. Instead of saying "Send us three sermon tapes" ask for certain ones, such as the last four Sunday morning sermons. Always arrive unannounced to observe sermons.
Having too large a committee. Large committees (some big churches have twenty-five) becomes unwieldy because everyone can't be at every meeting and material must be repeated for those who missed. Add the unanimous consent rule and you have chaos.
Failing to be discreet and to maintain total secrecy during the search process.

Pastor Search Information: PCA's Website: http://www.pcaac.org/pastor_search_information.htm

What is a good philosophy in building a church?
That is a ministry that overflows out of the relationship that a pastor have with the Lord, which comes from the study of His Word. That overflows from the pastor's personal & professional life and touches the lives of those in the congregation. And as a local church grow together, out of that comes the nurturing of a humble, teachable and lovable spiritualleadership.

The idea of a church picking pastors—the most crucial decision she have. When creating a search committee of people who will have different criteria and agendas. This will be confusing.

When looking for a pastor, its hard to see a pastor's heart. It’s not about how good of a preacher/teacher because anyone (almost) can do that.

I believe that our church needs to go to do set a way to find a pastor by knowing the pastor himself rather than his teachings alone. We should find a way to get together and find a place for him to live that’s furnished, and we’re going to put him there for six months, and we’re going to see if this is a relationship made in heaven or not.” Without making a long term committment, we can wait until the six months is over, we can sit down to:
1. Dismiss the pastor in an amiable way.
2. Offer him the position.