RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — What's in a name? For churches seeking a new minister, the name of the game is collecting names of candidates — lots of them. That's not always an easy task, and search committees typically discover it takes a variety of approaches to create a critical mass of potential pastors.
“You have to look at multiple ways in today's world,” Jim Vaught, a minister-matching specialist, said. “We never know how God is at work. God works in multiple avenues and channels. And the goal is always to find the right fit between a church and a minister.”
Finding the “right fit” between a church and the tools it uses in its search process is critical as well, say veterans of congregational search committees. Factors such as church size, geographical location and ability to spend money all play a role.
“The trick is to find the tool that works best for the church,” said Mike Lipford, who chairs the pastoral search committee at First Baptist Church in Richmond, Va. “God is the ultimate recruiter, but he's given us talents and abilities to discern the person that's right for the church.”
Most churches employ a combination of five approaches:
— The Network. Using a word-of-mouth method to disseminate information about potential ministerial candidates may be the most widely-used approach. “I tell churches to talk to pastors who they like and trust in their areas and ask for recommendations,” Vaught said.
While abuses of the “good ol' boy network” have tarnished its effectiveness, networking is a familiar procedure for the laypeople who fill church search committees. It smoothes the wheels of most business operations, and it works well with Baptists' decentralized polity.
— Madison Avenue. Religious newspapers and magazines across the nation report increased advertising revenue from churches seeking to fill ministerial posts. “We took out ads in a number of publications that had wide circulations and consequently had resumes come in from all parts of the country,” Lipford said.
Advertising for a pastor hasn't always been widely accepted. Twenty years ago, the Religious Herald, a news journal for the Baptist General Association of Virginia, routinely declined ads for ministerial positions.
“I think advertising carried with it a whiff of the secular market,” Jim White, the Herald's editor, said. Today such ads represent a significant percentage of its overall advertising.
Though little research has been done to track the extent to which ads generate names, the increased volume suggests satisfaction and success.
— Headhunters. Consulting firms have long been a pillar of the secular job market but are only beginning to make inroads in Baptist churches, possibly because, like earlier attitudes toward advertising, “headhunters” still retain a hint of the secular.
“We discussed that possibility [of a consulting firm] and decided not to unless we had to,” Lipford said. “And so far we haven't had to.”
— Click on this. Soliciting resumes on church websites is an inexpensive and, potentially wide-reaching way of gathering names.
— The matching game. Increasingly sophisticated databases link ministers and churches with detailed information that more effectively matches the two. One of those is a collaborative effort by the Baptist General Association of Virginia, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. Launched in February, the database can be accessed from the websites of each of the collaborators.
“Simply put, the system seeks to connect prospective candidates and churches,” Timothy Norman said. Norton directs congregational relationships at the Richmond seminary, which calls its part of the network LeaderConnect.
Linda Wear, who is a LeaderConnect specialist, said churches need an effective way to find appropriate candidates without having to just ask around, and candidates need to get their resumes before churches in a more effective manner. “LeaderConnect is an attempt to respond to that need,” she said.
Still, larger churches with access to a wide network may find a matching service less than useful.
“I think a smaller church will find the matching service and its database of names a good place to start,” Lipford said.
And what happens if a committee winds up with too many names?
“When you cast a wide net and generate a lot of resumes, you'll have a number of candidates' names to wade through that are not necessarily the person you're looking for,” Lipford said. “But on the other hand, you can generate a lot of interesting names as well.”
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— This story is the second of a four-part series on churches dealing with interim leadership.