A friend recently asked me to help him evaluate a few churches that he was candidating with, and some of them had Church Information Forms (which is sort of a church-side equivalent to the Ministerial Data Form in the Presbyterian Church in America). Part of this form has a place to rank "Pastoral Strengths Desired"-- things like Preaching, Evangelism, Youth Work, Community Service, etc. At the very

In part one of this series, I addressed why a hand-off (where an existing Assistant or Associate Pastor becomes the new Senior Pastor) is valuable. In part two, I answered the question, "should the Assistant/Associate become the Senior?" In part three, we looked at some strategies for an effective transition of this sort.In this (final) installment, I want to think about planning for succession.The

In part one of this series, I addressed why this sort of hand-off is valuable. In part two, I answered the question, "should the Assistant/Associate become the Senior Pastor?"Now, let's look at some strategies for the newly named Senior Pastor for an effective transition into the new role. I recommend three essential steps toward moving forward into the new role as Senior Pastor.Deal with changing

Well, it is "new" in that it has just been posted here.A few years ago, I wrote a few posts on how a church can prepare for a new pastor; these posts were themselves the result of a series of sermons and Sunday School classes I taught on the subject at a church I was serving in pulpit supply at the time. After I had written these, and received a good bit of positive feedback on them, I re-formatted

In part one, we considered why the hand-off is valuable. In this post, I want to consider the question, "Should the Associate/Assistant become the Senior?"There are numerous circumstances in which the answer to that question ought to be a resounding, "YES!" and only a few in which the answer ought to be, "no." Think of it this way: below are some diagnostic questions about the Assistant/Associate Pastor

One of my "dreams" for the church is that pastoral transitions would go more smoothly for most, if not all, churches. I am convinced that one way for this to happen more frequently is if the transition is a planned "hand-off" of the outgoing Pastor's rather than a "from-scratch" restart of pastoral ministry every time the Senior Pastor (or any other pastoral staff member) leaves. I want to focus on

One added benefit of the [Elmbrook Church] Study Center became evident over the years as more and more people who would never have gone to seminary completed the training we offered (all the time supporting themselves in their secular jobs and pursuing their ministries in the church. This meant that when we had a vacancy on the staff or an opportunity to develop a new ministry, we didn't have to look

Coming back to the information shared by a classmate of mine: he's serving at a church that recently completed their search for a new Senior Pastor. He was able to offer me some reflections based on what he witnessed about their search team.Probably the most valuable idea that he sent me is this: There is such a thing as too much information.Here's a summary of what he found in a big-picture observation:The

I got an e-mail the other day from a seminary classmate; he's now on staff of a church that recently completed a Senior Pastor search, and he offered me some fascinating insight into their search process.First, some background on the church: they are a PCA church, but they aren't hardcore PCA in the way that many seminarians are. This is vitally important to realize: they are committed to the PCA because

It's been a long time since I've blogged about how churches can do a better job with their search processes. I admit that my focus has been on candidates (and even primarily on the transition from seminary to a first ministry) for some time now. I think my horizons will broaden over the coming months, starting with this post.I'm a big fan of writer Malcolm Gladwell; I think he's not only one of the

A while back I mentioned Highrise, a tool by 37Signals for managing contacts and relationships.I wasn't the only one to recognize Highrise's benefit to ministry: 37Signals recently featured a write-up about a pastor who uses it, and unpacks how he does so. Useful information.Technorati Tags: Effective, Ministry

Even if you have a good basic organizational system for maintaining contact with your candidacy opportunities, keeping the system going can be part of the difficulty. A new option has recently become a great solution: Highrise, a new web application.Web-based applications are the "next big thing" in computer technology-- in fact, they are already the big thing. If you've heard of "Web 2.0" then what

Just what I need is another "series" of posts to keep up with, right?One of my oddities related to my overactive interest in pastoral transitions is my collection of "rejection" letters. (I have a whole file full; if you have a good one you'd like to share with me, please send me a copy! It will go to good use.)Here's a letter that I acquired recently that is about as good as it gets. I've removed

I had a telephone interview last week with a church that is approaching the placement process differently from the church I mentioned a few weeks ago: they are considering one candidate at a time, and focusing only on him. They have been without a pastor for 14 months, and I am the third candidate they have had interaction with; we've been in dialog for about 6 weeks.What strikes me about this church