Search

Currently, I am working with two organizations going through a leadership transition time.  As a pastor of North Side, our student pastor just took a job as a pastor at another church.  As a trustee of North Greenville University and member of the presidential search team, we are picking up the pace and work regarding the school’s next leader.

I needed some help to think through processes, values, and logistics regarding the transition time and hiring procedures for ministries.

I heard about William Vanderbloemen’s Search: The Pastoral Search Committee Handbook through Thom Rainer’s podcast.  I decided to give it a read and the small volume had some very rich wisdom in it.

Favorite Quotes

  1. Bringing an outsider into your body to run a major system is a critical process that warrants expert help (1).
  2. The purpose of the process is to seek the one whom God is already raising up to be your pastor (5).
  3. Clear and consistent communication of your pastoral transition is paramount to the success of your search (26).
  4. A mission statement is one sentence that describes why your church exists and what it does – what your church is passionate about and how it lives out that passion.  A vision statement is one sentence that expresses the long-term goal of your church – the changes you desire to see as a result of the work your church does (35).
  5. One of the biggest tension points churches have is miscommunication or lack of communication between the committee, the church staff, and the congregation (56).
  6. Your vision for the future is one of the best ways to discern what kind of candidate you need to hire (71).
  7. One reality of the Internet age is this: it has never been easier to look better on paper than you do in real life (94).
  8. There is no other vocation that so intimately intertwines one’s spiritual, emotional, and professional being as ministry (97).
  9. Most of your new hires won’t be effective and running at full speed until at least six months into the new position and sometimes longer than that (127).

Book Overview

Finding your church’s pastor is as serious as an organ transplant.

You need a pastor that matches your church’s vision, culture, and most importantly, your church’s heart. While there is no simple, one-size-fits-all solution to the puzzle of planning for a seamless pastor search, this handbook was created to provide pastor search committees, church leaders, and pastors a guide to asking the right questions in order to plan for the overwhelming pastor search process.

William Vanderbloemen has spent years focusing on connecting churches with pastors who fit their ministry context. Search: The Pastoral Search Committee Handbook guides church members through the process finding the right leader for their church.

Every church faces leadership changes. Leadership transitions often negatively affect the life of the church. Ministries are halted, church members leave, and giving slows down. The momentum the church was building is lost. Imagine instead that the church had a process already in place. What if they knew how to form a search committee and begin the search process for the person God is calling to lead their church?