Help… My Search Committee Lied to Me!
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Mon, July 16, 2007
- Viewed 108
- (23) comments so far
Calvin Wittman shares some very practical advice for church staff members when checking out a potential new place for ministry. Here is some of what he suggests:
1. Do your homework
Talk to other pastors in the area, to former pastors and former staff members, they will know more about the church than anyone else. While some of them will not want to say anything negative, you should be able to discern quite a bit both from what is said and from what is not said. While you will have to filter each person’s opinion through their individual experience with the church, there is still a lot to be learned from good old fashioned footwork.
2. Look at their history
How long have their pastors stayed? How they ever fired a pastor? What were the circumstances surrounding his dismissal? Look for patterns over the last several decades. Chances are, many of the same people are still there and history has a tendency to repeat itself. I’ve always said that the way a church has treated pastors in the past is a good indication of how they will treat me.
3. Be objective
One of the reasons many pastors get into bad situations is because they are hearing only what they want to hear. They may be in such a hurry to get to a “better” church that they overlook glaring realities.
How badly do you want to go somewhere else?
How is that affecting your ability to see clearly and to hear the truth?
While committees are often prone to paint an overly optimistic picture, it is easy to do when a potential pastor is only listening for what he wants to hear.
4. Listen to your family
Your wife and children will be looking at things to which you may be blinded. On more than one occasion I had to learn this lesson the hard way because I would not listen to my family. Remember, your family has just as much at stake in this decision as you do. God has put them there to help you. Listen to what they say, especially when it is what you don’t want to hear.
Tomorrow we’ll look at three things Calvin says you can do if you’ve already been duped.
Have you ever been duped by a search committee? How so? What was the most outrageous lie you were told? Was it a blatent lie or did ‘their love of their church cloud their vision?”
Todd
The premise of a recent article posted over at Lifeway.com is "Pastor search committees often lie to potential pastors. Search committees are not intentionally deceitful, but sometimes they just don’t tell all the truth. They love their church and that love tends to cloud their vision." This, of course, begs the questions, how can a pastor see the truth before he takes the church and what is he to do when he gets to the church and finds out he’s been duped?
Comments
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Peter Hamm on Mon, July 16, 2007
Number four is REAL important. A big part of the reason I did as well as I did choosing my first pastoral job (second career, by the way) is because of that.
Also, when in the final negotiations, leave NO issue un-discussed. They will NOT clear themselves up!
Ted H. Welch Sr. on Mon, July 16, 2007
Yes, I have experienced problems with a search committee not divulging the real facts of the status of the Church. What they stated they desired in a Pastor and what they really wanted were two different things in view of their situation at the time. Healing needed to take place due to the previous pastor’s sexual problems. There were several factions in the church, some people believed the situation and some did not, yet they pretended everything spiritually was OK in the Church. However it was not as hatred and bitterness was present. As it was deteremined later this church had a long history of clergy killing behavior going back at least 40 years. When I was told by the Elders that I could stay as long as I want if I did everything they desired, I ended up resigning the next month after a public church meeting in which the Elders let their minister be vilified by a few in the congregation. I stayed at that church just 2 years, yet had led my previous church through their healing process and stayed 9 1/2 years before seeking a new challenge. Our God had a purpose I believe in giving that Church a opportunity to correct its problems and in helping me to personally understand the pain of a clergy killing situation and to help other Pastors who have/are experiencing same. I am now pastoring a Church which is smaller but faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ. I am thankful and praise God!
EGA on Mon, July 16, 2007
I recently interviewed for another position in a different church and after I candidated at the actual church, I found out that the salary offer would actually wind up being about $12-15K less and there was no insurance available. No thank you!
Ray Fowler on Mon, July 16, 2007
I know a pastor who accepted a call at a church that lied to him about the number of people attending. On the Sunday he candidated, all the church members brought friends and relatives to make it look as if they were a larger church. He candidated to a church of about 100, and when he arrived to pastor, it turned out the church only had about 25!
Jon Rice on Mon, July 16, 2007
By all means, talk to the local church association, the other area pastors, even people in the community who don’t attend that church. I think search committees mean well, but we should expect them to “dress up for the first date.” I naively entered a relationship with a church that had major issues, a recent split and traditional power struggles between pastor and deacons. Some of these things I heard about before I accepted their call, but most of it came out later. The Lord was gracious to us, and allowed us to serve for seven years. Although it was difficult, I thank God for the opportunity to serve in a hard place. I learned a great deal about surrender and hardship; loving God’s people, even when they don’t love you back. I don’t know if I would have accepted the call, knowing what I know now. And yet, if the Lord leads us to a difficult place, who are we to refuse the one who has purchased us at so great a price?
Jeff on Mon, July 16, 2007
I don’t know that I have been lied to, as much as perhaps misled. We weren’t speaking the same language in many cases. “We are a board-run church” meant something different to me than the most stifling leadership situation I have ever seen. When one of the core values was “Family,” I thought it was a focus on young families with children. Instead it was that 98% of the people were related.
A thorn in my flesh is (in the Independent Christian Church/Church of Christ) the search team’s profound resistance to ever reveal their salary package until you have gone deep into the process. How many professions spring that in one of the last steps of their hiring process?? If you ask you are “just in it for the money.” As if!!
Also there is a tendency not to really know some information. Two churches I looked at billed themselves as churches of 500 attendance, plus! Neither was. In fact, one was at less than 400. The other (where I am now) was running 300 when I came. They just never really bothered to run the figures, they just ball-parked it. They’d never reached that attenedance level in their history.
The thing is, both the church and the candidate tend to always put their best foot forward. We rarely empty the skeletons in the closet, and if it happens it’s usually one or the other that does it, not both the church and the pastor. I can only imagine what some folks say that we lied about after we leave.
Jeff
Steve Nestor on Mon, July 16, 2007
Yes, and more than once. The first time was over the number of people attending. When I arrived for, “preaching interview”, the church was packed with about 100. later, I discovered the congregation was made up of about four families, most who did not attend the church regularly. (they showed up for pot-luck.) I got excited about many things that day. The love poured out of them like a freshly discovered bee hive, only to find that it was limited to if I performed to satisfy “the family.” If the conflict was among two families, I was expected to side with one or the other. The fight ended when I resigned just two years later. By the way, I got absolutely no support from my district leadership, and I am convinced they knew the truth at the time of my interview. The second offered similar problems, and will end with my seeking another place where God can use me. There’s got to be someplace where God rules!
Ted H. Welch Sr. on Mon, July 16, 2007
To Steve Nestor:
Steve, there is. Stick with it! I pray your situation won’t cause you to leave the ministry. I am so THANKFUL for my present position in our Church in Iowa! God is GOOD! We have been here two years a couple of months and it is exactly the opposite of my experience I described previously.
Larry on Mon, July 16, 2007
I think the most common lie that I have experienced is, “Yes, we’re ready to grow and we really want to grow” They always forget to add, “if we don’t have to change anything we’re dong now!” I forget who I heard this from, and I am not sure I am quoting exactly right but, “If you always do what you have always done, you will always be where you have always been.” They cannot equate growth with drastic change or even a small change. Growth does not come without change. Every search committee has said the same thing, “We want to grow!” When I arrive and start to implement changes to cause growth, then it is another story.
Dave on Mon, July 16, 2007
Having had some bad experiences at two previous churches, we had, in essence, followed these four guidelines. We were determined not to get into a bad situation again. And yet still, the third church did not end up “being the charm”. In the candidating process, my wife was praised for her openness and willingness to share her thoughts. In the end, they asked me to resign because she was open and shared her opinions about how to improve ministries in the “wrong” way. In essence, and looking back (hindsight is 20/20), they hired me because they were desperate. The Senior Pastor was leaving on sabbatical in 8 weeks and they had nothing in place to cover his absence. When he returned from his sabbatical, his dissertation for his doctorate was not complete as he thought it would be. He continued to work on it for the next 18 months. However, once it was done, and he could again give full-time attention to the ministry, there no longer was a need for me. Thus they found reasons to move us on. Church’s don’t mean to be cruel, nor do they intentionally deceive, but unfortunately, they can end up being just like the world, where they use people for their purposes, and then “move them on” when those purposes have been accomplished—sighting whatever excuses, er reasons, they can come up with to make it pallatible with the congregation and “spiritual” with the staff member.
DT on Mon, July 16, 2007
Larry hit the nail on the head and drove it home with one swing!!
kent on Mon, July 16, 2007
I think one of the problems is often the call/seafrch committee is not representative of the congregation. Those on the committee are the energized and progressive ones and it is the remaining congregation that becomes the anchor. Ask why the previous left, ask what their dreams are, and ask what their understanding of their community is.
Susan on Mon, July 16, 2007
Search committees usually have rose colored glasses about their church. While few would state their intention is to dupe the potential pastor (be it associate or senior), the reality is that the espoused values and actual values often conflict. The ideal reality (even if desired) and the actual reality can be world’s apart. Change is essential yet often not embraced. Experience has shown that asking multiple questions from many angles as well as doing one’s homework can help immensely to ensure fit. A great book in my master’s program that helped me was “Confirming the Pastoral Call: A guide to matching candidates and congregations (Joseph L. Umidi). It has many assessment tools for both the congregation and the pastor. It has been a great help to many pastors I know. It’s a great tool for a search committee to use as they begin the process. It also helps candidates ask candid questions to move past the “dating” stage (stating only the positive, wonderful things. Doing “homework” can help one know the actual values along with the church’s readiness to change and many other realities. Pastoral fit is an essential ingregient of long-term fruit bearing in Kingdom advancement.
PT on Mon, July 16, 2007
I confess: I’m one on those MMI subscribers that never commented before. Probably, some will wish it stayed that way:) Nevertheless,
Concerning the issue of search committees I absolutely agree (and have personally experienced) that it is common for a degree of carefully filtered and/or “spun” information that can be misleading, confusion and sometimes downright false and manipulative. So I find the previous comments and recorded experiences to be valid and I can certainly empathize.
However, I am disappointed at what I have NOT seen in any of the responses or the original post. The focus has been entirely upon the responsibility of the search committee to accurately represent and the Pastoral candidate to be a careful evaluator in avoiding any troublesome situation. My concern is that there has been no mention of the role Christ and the Holy Spirit do or should be given in these “courtings” between church and Pastor.
WHY should a Pastor accept or reject a church’s call? Is it simply a matter of how beneficial and smooth of a ‘fit’ it seems to be? Is it an obedient response to God’s calling? A hybrid? What about a situation in which a Pastor discerns God’s call to lead a Church that clearly appears to be misleading, conflicted, difficult, declining, and/or with a reputation for “spitting out pastors”? In what way is the compensation package being offered a valid confirmation of God’s calling?
My personal opinion (and approach) is that I do make every effort to carefully evaluate a potential church, find out as much as possible, “read between the lines,” know what I’m getting into as much as possible, and try to ascertain that I will at least be able to adequately provide for my family. HOWEVER, at “the end of the day” the only factor I permit myself to consider in whether or not to pursue a ministry of accept a call is: “Is GOD calling me to this?” If yes, the rest is good to know for preparation’s sake, but is absolutely irrelevant in my decision to accept the call. God loves all of His people and all of His churches - even the dysfunctional, deceitful, immature ones. Why wouldn’t God call even you or me to pastor a church that all human reason and advice shouts “Don’t touch, run away!”?
At my current church (where I came in amidst much transition and need for turnaround), I accepted the call and moved into the parsonage before I even knew what my compensation would be. Not that I didn’t want to know or that it wasn’t important to me. But I was convinced without question that God was calling me here. When I asked myself: “Is there anything likely to be presented in a compensation proposal that would cause me to reject God’s call?”, I could only answer no. I trusted in Christ and in His people. If they did me and my family wrong, He would deal with it. Some, I know, would consider this irresponsible to my family. Some, have felt “burned” by such situations. I call it living in faith.
Bruce on Mon, July 16, 2007
I’ve been duped. I was called to a church where the search committee told me they wanted to reach children, youth, and young families. They knew that if they did not do so that the church would die. So I told them what it would entail if they wanted to reach this segment of their community. This church was primarily an older church that had not grown with the growth of the community. Once I was called as pastor we began to implement some changes to help reach out to the young, the unchurched and the the dechurched as well. Within a relatively short time opposition mounted. After 2 1/2 years I had to resign the church due to the pressure from a hand full of self appointed protectors of the status quo. I believe they really wanted to reach the young audience, but I believe they wanted to reach them the way they were still doing things or the way they did reach them in the 60’s and it just was not working. Needless to say the church today is still not reaching their community, but I pray that someday they will. My advice to future pastors is try to understand what is being said behind what is being said. Be as clear as you can up front and make sure that they understand what you are communicating as well. And then they must communicate this to the entire church body so there will be no misunderstanding at a later date.
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