Pastor Search #6

Finding The Perfect Match

I watched a beautiful sunset yesterday from our front porch. The bright rays reflecting over the lake began to fade behind the North Carolina hills surrounding our home. The fall colors are gorgeous. This reminded me again how wonderful our retirement has turned out. There were unanswered questions about our future. There are always the financial issues. Will there be enough money? There was the social issue. Will we get good neighbors? And there were the personal issues. Will we be happy? I can answer all of these questions with a resounding yes!! These are the types of questions a search committee must deal with. When the decision is made and everyone is satisfied that this is the right person then you wait for the outcome. Will everyone be satisfied? Will the pastor be happy in his new surroundings? Have we missed anything? The goal of the search committee is to do their homework well enough so that there is a perfect fit. There have been times when the new pastor and church fit like a glove and a hand. To often there have been situations when both parties knew right away that it was a mistake. That is tragic. Both the church and the pastor suffer. The job of the search committee is to spend the time in prayer and with leg work in order to prevent this. I speak from experience of being in that situation several years ago. I knew right away that it was not God who sent me but it was a selfish desire on my part. That church suffered and my family and I suffered as well. So, how can this be avoided? First, the search committee must use every tool possible in order to get the right person. It is not unusual for a church to get four or five hundred resumes. How can the committee find the jewel in that pile? There are services available to provide background checks and personality profiles. I talked with one committee who told me one of their candidates attached the “Myers-Briggs Indicator Certification” with his cover letter. The committee said he went to the top of their list. There are other tools available as well. We developed the http://www.ministrytogether.com/ website in order to address some of these issues. We knew there was a great need for a sifting process so that certain candidates can rise to the top rather than be hidden in the stack. We developed a 54 point matching system so the pastor and church can be matched together. We ask theological, psychological, and practical questions. The matches are listed with the percentage of match in order for the committee and the candidate to find each other. Once they have determined their matches they can communicate with each other and continue the process. Our site has become the sifter to sift out those candidates who are not a match for the particular church. The goal is for the search committee to find candidates whom they can seriously pursue rather than spending their time going through the four or five hundred resumes to hopefully find a fit. When it is all over they will see the beautiful sunsets and will be able to say, “The decision was the right one”. That is what we say every day when we look out our front window and see the beautiful view………..Preacherman