The Call

Our Pastor is taking a call to go to New Jersey. Now with a congregation of about 300 in rural Kane County (Between Elburn and Geneva IL) the next challenge is to find someone to carry the vision to the next level. Pastor Phil has brought us very far. His shoes will be hard to fill. It has caused me to think about what matters in finding the right man for the place that will soon be vacant. Must be ordained LCMS. Must be willing to accommodate informal contemporary worship style. No robes allowed. Of course the admonitions for leadership in Timothy and Titus are a given. There is no reason to rehearse that once more. SO, in summary there are IMHO only 5 key keeper-inners or kicker-outers for any person considering this:

1. Must have a sound marriage. A good wife can double your ministry. A bad marriage will cut it in half. That is critical. I have seen it ruin more good ministers than I care to think about.

2 Must have sound doctrine.. with a sense of humor. One of the things I appreciate about the LCMS is their conservative doctrine... but don't take it to extreme. There are those in the wider denomination that are really weird about all this. I don't have all the answers and neither do they. Lighten up, but stay steady. No compromise but no demagoguery or slavery to non essential doctrines. Leave some space for personal faith growth without imposed dogma.

3. Must have Sound proven leadership skills. No patsy. A church of this size needs a man who knows how to be in charge and how to make a decision. The buck really has to stop with him ultimately. Not an answer man making all the decisions but not one who listens to every voice in his ear. Needs to be very comfortable being in charge.

4. Must have Sound platform skills. Not just preaching, that's the easy part. Anyone can cook up a good sermon and deliver it with a level of skill. What is needed is to be able to hear what the Spirit is saying as the service goes along and flow with where HE is headed. That takes confidence and maturity. That means being in control without dominating what the Spirit is saying. It goes without saying he must be filled with the Spirit to do this.

5. Must have a Sound Vision. If you poke this guy at 3 AM he already has a God given vision of what he is committed to in ministry and the kind of fellowship he is driven to facilitate. That should torment him until the internal vision is manifested.

All the other things you hear about when people are going to do a search are given. Missions oriented. Evangelistic. Loves People. Compassionate. Yadda Yadda Yadda. The fact is, those are outgrowths of a Holy Spirit given Vision. Most of those are unmeasurable and any candidate will give lip service to them. The FIVE I mention above can be measured and without them we don't have a viable candidate. I bring this up because I have been part of these searches in the past and made some bad mistakes, and some good choices. I have walked away from some men who had four of the five, but not all of them. I have been in a few churches that the senior leader carries all five. It's very good when it happens. It happens too few times. I am interested to hear if YOU have any other things (other than the requisite Biblical admonitions) that you might think important.