Our pastor-search committee said they want to find a person of integrity. That is such a loose concept. Just what does integrity look like, so we can recognize it in candidates for our church?
Your pastor-search committee will need depth, maturity and spiritual insight to recognize genuine integrity in potential candidates. The eventual outcome is well worth the effort. The Baptist search process comprises many means of locating potential candidates, including word of mouth, individual experiences, denominational recommendations, public solicitations and placement services. Each of these resources should facilitate, not replace, a pursuit of divine guidance. Integrity is the key component throughout this spiritual endeavor.
As revealed through such similar words as “integer,” “integral” and “integrate,” the root of the word “integrity” means wholeness and completeness. The concept of integrity depicts a unity of the whole person, one who is consistently the same. The Old Testament describes a person of integrity as one who is devoted completely to God and genuinely caring toward other people. In the New Testament, integrity is revealed through such virtuous characteristics as purity of heart, singleness of eye and sincerity of motive. The Scriptures summon individuals to integrate faith into every aspect of life.
What does this person look like when you are looking for a pastor? Integrity begins with the candidate's call into ministry. All subsequent actions, decisions and experiences of life ought to reveal a true reflection of that calling. A pastoral candidate of integrity is simply an individual who consistently lives the call. This person reflects a life that is the same on Sunday mornings and on Friday nights, in the pulpit and in the committee room and with personal finances.
Your committee must begin with an intense examination of the candidate's calling. What is the story? Who are the influences? How do others interpret that calling? A good check on references at the point of the person's call is extremely beneficial.
Once you have a grasp of the significance of the individual's calling, explore expressions of that calling. What experiences in the minister's life are consistent with the call, and what experiences deviate from it? What virtues does the minister exemplify that enhance the call, and which vices emerge that diminish it? Over the years, how has the calling been re-evaluated and re-focused? How does the minister interpret this potential pastorate in light of the call? The person of integrity is the one who most genuinely and wholly is true to the person God has called.
As you ask these tough questions and seek the truth in answers, you will find that your committee will become focused on discovering the right individual for your church, the one whom God has been preparing from the moment of a call until now.
Allen Reasons is senior minister of Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, Huntington, W. Va.
Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology. Contributors include Baptists in Virginia, Texas, Missouri and other states. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to [email protected].