TELL ME MORE ABOUT HOW YOU STRENGTHEN THE LOCAL CHURCH
The GO Center’s role is to strengthen the local church by strengthening your next chapter.
When a pastor leaves a church, one chapter ends and another one begins.
It’s a time to dream a bit and ask questions like,
- God, what’s our next chapter in your story?
- What do you want us to focus on?
- Who do you want us to pursue?
- Where do you want us to invest our time, talent, and treasure?
- How do you want us to go about serving you?”
Our role is to find your next pastor who will lead your church into your next chapter and strengthen it.
Hiring your next Lead Pastor may be the most important decision you make.
There are two ways to search
THE TRADITIONAL WAY
Posting a job description, and then hoping and praying the right candidate applies is tricky.
Hope is not a strategy.
Here’s why: Pastors who apply to your listing are actively looking. They are either between calls or they have one foot out the door. They represent about 20% of pastoral candidates.
What about the other 80%? Gainfully employed and “not looking”, these pastors would listen and be willing to move if the situation was right.
How will you reach them?
You need to have the relationships, networks, and tools to do so.
Do you?
THE STRATEGIC WAY
Creating a Candidate Profile will produce clarity so you know who you are looking and praying for.
Targeting is the strategy.
Here’s why: Once you have identified the type of pastor for the next season, you can pursue the other 80% of candidates. Odds are in your favor that you will locate a match in less time than the traditional way as long as you have access to them.
And that is the problem.
Most search committees are limited to small networks and limited tools.
They can’t find them, so they do things the traditional way.
Consider:
- How deep is your candidate pool with highly qualified candidates by hoping and praying?
- By not having the right pastor in place, what impact is it having on the staff and people of the church?
- With the current way of doing it, how close are you to hiring the right candidate so your church can focus on the mission Jesus set before you?
- Are you willing to settle for possibly missing out on candidates because of the way you are currently doing it?
- Do you have a process to onboard your new pastor so that he, the Elders, and the congregation are just not excited, but aligned?
We might be able to help.
Rev. David Zook (Teaching Elder, EPC), who is a part of our team, has a background in executive level recruiting. Before ministry, he served as a recruiter and was the top man in his firm. In addition, David spent 14 years in the pulpit leading two churches (one EPC, one Non-Denominational) to healthy places. He has also helped plant four churches. He has a keen sense of what to look for so the fit is right.
His expertise in identifying, locating, assessing, securing, and onboarding candidates might benefit your committee’s work.
PASTORS WHO MIGHT BE LOOKING
If you are a pastor who:
- is between calls
- has one foot out the door
- would like to be kept in the loop
then let’s get to know one another. We might be able to help. Our goal is to align you with your next call to give you the best chance to have a faithful and fruitful ministry. Click below to get started.
CHURCHES LOOKING FOR A PASTOR
If you would like to learn more about how we could possibly help your committee’s work, let’s talk.
When we do, we just need to discover if we can help you fulfill the work before you. You may have all the bases covered and not need any help. However, if we discover some gaps in the way you are currently doing it, there are several ways we possibly could help. But only if it makes sense.
Here is the next step: schedule a time to talk to David.
Click below for his calendar. Pick a time that works for you.