I am currently on my first Pastor Search Committee and am wading thru over 200 resumes (thanks to the posting on churchstaffing.com). Call me gullible, but because it wouldn’t occur to me to lie on my own resume, I would never expect other to lie on theirs, even though I am sure it happens. In my opinion, intentionally lying is totally wrong and if found out, reason for yanking that resume from the “possible pile”.

There is an underlying spiritual issue that would make a pastor pad the paper - justice for past slights? lack of recognition for hard work? insecurity? Frankly, as a search committee member, I don’t want to delve into that person as a potential for my church. If found out it wouldn’t be tolerated in the secular world would it? I hope not, but I fear so to an certain extent.

But what is interesting is that some pastor applicants feel the need to put EVERYTHING on the resume which is burdensome for those of us who have to pray and read them all. (Some others put next to nothing and that’s rough too.) Perhaps in all those bullets itemizing everything they’ve done at every church they’ve ever visited since they were saved, there is a bit of embellishment, or maybe it’s just the readers’ not being able to realistically see (discern)all those points for what they are.

Now of course the person could totally embellish a resume, including false information, but I think it is the burden of the search committee to research that man thoroughly, including not just his references but asking those refs to give other, unlisted references - third party info, if you will. And in today’s society it is an unfortunate part that even pastors must have background checks.

With regards to Marty’s comments about moral imperfections in everyone as well as pastors, when I am reading these resumes my mind is not focused on “Is he telling the truth”, but on where our committee has identified God’s will for our church, and how these great men coincide with that. We are all aware the pastors are people (or should be). But for those who provide nothing but “the fact’s ma’am, just the facts” I am left at a loss as to whether to actively pursue them or not. Everything could be totally true but I just don’t have enough info to go on! The ones whose resumes are 20 pages long and include a published manuscript as an addendum, I struggle to wade through. Sorry gentlemen, I do have a life.

What I am looking for in a resume is not necessarily the facts but it is the “spark”. Not flash, but that spark that says that man has got the passion and the desire to...(insert whatever your church is moving toward). To tell you the truth, I find this spark most often in the cover letter, which I think is a greatly underused asset to the applicant.

I can compare a hundred of these resumes and come up with 75 who are right on the money in terms of what our church desires for experience, education, doctrinal beliefs. But (and I’m sorry if this hurts) those who emailed their resumes and didn’t include a cover letter get stuck at the back of the pile. That c.l. is so valuable to the average Joe/Jane churchgoer on the search committee. It tells me their hearts -it can explain why there is a gap in jobs, it can explain why they’ve been married 15 years but have a 22 year old child (and explain it to our satisfaction - like the divorce happened way before salvation).

Cover letters can reveal the heart of the men and that’s what I want to see in a resume, not just academia galore, or “I pastored 3 churches with over 2 million in budgets”. La de dah. There are a hundred just like that person. But as far as honesty is concerned - I can read honesty in a cover letter, and I can read trumped up hooey.

I am going to be relating to this pastor for, hopefully, a LONG time. I want to begin relating the moment I have the resume in my hands because, let’s face it, after the 30th resume YOU ALL LOOK THE SAME (except for the wackos, and sorry to be blunt again, but there are some real cases out there). You are all committed men of God with lovely families and you’re talented and nice and working toward personal holiness. All that extra “Philosophy of ministry” stuff is fine to an extent, but a limited one. But I don’t know you personally yet. Where I more readily see the lack of sincerity/hype/self-aggrandizement is in your cover letter. Where I can see your heart for your passion is in that letter.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that God doesn’t yell in my ear like I’d wish, and won’t light up a certain resume like the burning bush, so I rely on my imagining that person with me, telling me about himself and his God, couched in the words of his cover letter, and supported by his resume.

Sorry, Todd, I know I totally veered off the subject of lying on resumes. I’ve just seen SO MANY I have no idea who lied and who didn’t. I want to know a pastor’s heart, not just his qualifications.

Having a bi-vocatinal ministry it is the route of the flesh sometimes to bend the truth a little.  BUT… the only person who eventually be hurt is that individual who had ‘padded’ the resume.  In my secular job, there are some experiences I did not have but I had to be nationally credentialled to preform my job.  If I lied, I could have gone to jail! Having responded to church requests for pastors and reading the ‘examples’ given by organizations who specialize in resumes, one can see the temptation to ‘pad’.  Unless you are willing to pioneer a work as I am currently doing, the tendency is to follow society and ‘lie’ [did i say that - yes I did for that what it is....a lie!].  I believe that the church has placed experiences and past accomplishments over the calling God has placed on a man or woman of God.  I do agree that with many resumes as my brother noted above, the choice gets more difficult with each letter of request.  As the old cliche goes “all that glitters is not gold!” So what do we do.....if one is called of God, God will place that individual in a flock where they will be able to effectively minister, even if that means a congregaton of 3 or 4 four and two are the pastor and his wife!  One last comment, there are resumes where the name of a church attended tends to sway the selection committee either to or away from that individual.  We all should let go and let God!  God Bless all.  Have a Blessed Christmas to all who read and let us all remember that Jesus is Lord!

When I interviewed for this ministry position (which just I began in November.  I was transitioning from another ministry where there had been some conflict.. (I know that doesn’t fit some of your theology, but there was CONFLICT and it was ministry!)
In the interview, the committee asked me some questions that I could have skirted with PC answers and still been truthful, but I chose to be really BLUNT.
Short version of the story is that as they checked with my references (Former and current pastor of that ministry and current elder and an accountability partner)… they heard the same story from all four of them that I had told.
That brutal honesty is one of the MAJOR reasons they quit looking for weaknesses.  I was honest about mine and they felt that they could trust the rest of my answers.
So here I am, up to my neck in another ministry after 3 months, with no regrets or surprises on eiether side.

I was talking with a seminary placement director a couple weeks ago and he gave an interesting twist on the resume.  It certainly won’t work for everyone (he’s 71 and has probably 40 years of ministry experience behind him), but I like the idea. 

A few years ago a church was interested in him as an intenional interim pastor.  They asked for a resume - which he hadn’t had in 15 or 20 years.  Instead, he gave them the names of three churches he had served (or leaders at those churches) and said to call them...and ask for the names of his three biggest critics at each church, and call THEM.  The church did that...and he got the position.

I want to be confident enough in who I am - and who I am not - that I can give someone the names of my biggest critics, not just my fans, as references!

As the first comment and the last comment probally make the most sense.  Pastors are people they are human and lie on a regular basis.  They lie especially among their peers.  We had the best service, or the attendance, or giving, or baptisms etc....so you have to understand Pastors stretch the truth a lot.  But just like in the business world it is important to do a background check, credit report, and investigate not only the references, but others who are not on the list of references.  I like the wisdom in the 71 year old interim pastor!!  He was free and didn’t care if he got the job or not! 
Another thought....resumes by and large are fleshly anyway.  I this and I did that and I have this experience, and that education.

I am curious about online ministers… There is one that shows up everywhere and appears to be an expert on everything from youth crime (my personal interest as a college student), relationships, child support, Obama, and etc. and etc. I wonder what a background check would reveal on him.