Three comments:

1. Did your ad specify what kind of DVD was required? Were you expecting a DVD-ROM, which only works on a computer, or the type of DVD that can be played in a home DVD player as well as on a computer?

2. You outlined your church’s application review process in your letter. Was this review process clearly set forth in your ad or elsewhere? Do applicants know in advance how your application review process works?

3. You wrote, “Upon receipt of the resume [and DVD??], I would immediately forward a few documents to the individual that told them more about our church and about the position. “

What? You didn’t make this available on your church website from the start? You are expecting applicants to take the time and effort to prepare a resume (and presumably a DVD) and send it to you. Only then do you make available to them documents to help them to determine if your church is a good fit for them? Wouldn’t it make more sense to make these documents available up front, downloadable from a page on your church website? Wouldn’t that save everybody time and effort? Further, applicants ought to be able to glean much information about your church to begin with from your church website.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey

I agree that communication is a two way street, and is the responsibility of both parties. Unfortunately, my experience is that many churches have a lack of understanding about the process of hiring. In the last eight months I have sent out over 120 resumes. Out of that number only ten even had the courtesy to acknowledge receiving the resume. To me, that is one of the sad facts about the church today, their complacency, whether its God’s role in their life, or dealing with employing staff. Not to mention their unrealistic expectations (but that’s for another thread).

That troubles me, too, Wayne.  Requiring DVD from someone being hired for a media position may not be that inappropriate, but I worry when this is required of pastoral candidates.  Assuming that, primarily, it is God who is calling (rather than the church HIRING - ugly word in pastoral context!  Anybody remembers John 10:12-13?) then we are to further assume that God can (as He certainly HAS in the past) call from anywhere!  These kinds of requirements (for example a DVD of one teaching) effectively eliminate the person who may the the ideal candidate but who may be serving in a little rural (and “equipment-challenged") church.  Whatever happened to the good old audio-tape?  While I understand the search committee’s need for a sample of the work of persons being considered for pastoral positions, I should think that they should, more importantly, be concerned about other things which go beyond a resume and a DVD.  Too often I have had committees dismiss me as “not being the right profile” and they have not engaged me in any fundamental, but serious, questions (via a short questionnaire, for example) about ministry, leadership, vision, theological concerns or ministry competence.  I guess I am suggesting that, in the apiritual/ecclesiologial arena, resumes are perhaps the least (and maybe laziest) mode of learning something about your candidates, despite the secular world’s “success” with it.  Anybody our there feels the same way?

Hi.  Are you still looking for a media director?  If so, I am a Worship and Media Pastor currently looking.  However, because I have felt led to leave my last church in search for another, (for reasons of sin in the clergy that is unrepentant) and I have no ability to make a DVD of my abilities.  However, I have better than 16 years of participation in the Music Ministries of which 11 are positions involving leadership.
My background stems from many years of private instruction on guitar and drums and I have the equalivant of Theory 3 in training as well as the equivalent of an AA in thrology by classes offered in church.  Hermaneutics, Greek (1st year), Eschatology, and have a good understanding of the role of leadership and teaching.
More frim my music background… I have worked in recording studios as an apprentice sound engineer and sound technician for live events, have multi-media training and worked professionally in a band (Lazarus) promoted and published by Great Divide Records in Colorado.  A BMI and GMA member since 1998.
Personal life:  I am married with one child and one on the way.  36 years old and in August will be 37.  My hearts desire is to bring people to an understanding of God’s will for their lives by teaching the Word through music.

Now… with that said.  I have applied to several churches that match my experience and to my surprise, I am unqualified due to the fact that I do not have a degree in music.  This astounds me.  But if that is what the qualification is for a Worship pastor for their churches, then I don’t want the job.  I want to serve my God and King in a church that has as their greatest need, someone who is filled with the Spirit with a desire to serve God with their talents.  the rest is important, but should be understood that a novice in music probably isn’t called to lead music.  With examples from 2 Cron. showing that the skilled musicians were called of the line of Levi to serve as the chief musicians, and one to serve as the captian of the chief who was Chenaniah.  I too believe that this format should be in combination with the desire.
Now I don’t expect you to hire me from this letter, but maybe you could find another way to research candidates outside of the DVD.  Some of us who are on fire for Christ who have the capabilities and years of experience would love to work with you and develop a wonderful worship and praise service that is centered on God rather than on us.
Please don’t take this as a rebuke, that is not what I intended but rather another side of the “coin”. I really hope that God will find you what you are looking for, but at the same time I hope you consider even those who haven’t the means to provide you with all you ask.  You may miss a wonderful minister of God by looking at the criteria you set rather than what God is providing.

Thanks

Jack

I am presently in the process of being interviewed for a large church as Director of Counseling Ministries.  It has been a lengthy process since I sent my resume 4 month ago, but I feel that their thoroughness in selecting staff members, although gut-wrenching at times, only serves to give me confidence in their leadership and judgement in that I can rest assured the next staff person they hire after me will have also been checked out thoroughly, therefore giving me a greater sense of peace about who I am working alongside of. 
I think there are too many churches that their leadership are too lax in hiring.  They are often times desperate to fill a position and that tends to make them jump at the first “decent” applicant to come along.  You see, I have personally seen a pastor I worked with jump way too soon at hiring a youth pastor 2 seperate times. One situation I am speaking of involved a youth pastor our pastor hired who turned out to have an alcoholic wife who would disappear for days at a time and whom was finally arrested when the police were called to their home one night due to a domestic disturbance.  To fill his vacancy, our pastor, only 4 months later, quickly hired another young man, this one single, as youth pastor who turned out to have an addiction to pornography and embezzled money from the youth account to the tune of several thousand dollars in an eight month span. 
Sure, right now, being in the thick of the candidating process, it’s taking longer than I would like, but truthfully speaking, I’d rather see a church demonstrate to me how serious thay take ministry by taking a little longer and asking a few more questions than to be caught in a situation where the leadership moves forward irresponsibly without really seeking the Lord first.

I have been going through this process for the last several months and found it quite frustrating. After spending 15 years in full time ministry and leaving temporarily to deal with a tragic death of a family member, I have learned the church desperately needs help in this area. I have been working a secular job in professional production and if the secular world operated like most churches, nothing would ever happen. What I have found two things to be very frustrating. One is the lack of response from pastors or search committees and two, search committees not being qualified to properly evaluate candidates to fill their position.  As a person seeking a position I too am evaluating churches I apply to and the way they communicate to me speaks volumes on if I want to work there. A church that cannot keep potential candidates informed on their process has issues besides needing more staff. I have no problem with a church asking a candidate to prove their skills but does the church have qualified people to evaluate those skills? I have answered pages of questionairres taking painstaking hours to complete only to never hear another word from the church. I have made tapes, rented CD recorders to make CD’s from tapes because churches only want CD’s, all of which take time and finances to try to get your foot in the interview door only to get a generic “you don’t meet our qulaifications” letter.  I understand chemistry, the right fit even doctrinal compatibility and all the other phrases we use but common courtesy has to fit in there somewhere. I had a church drag me along for six months, including phone conversations, e-mails, questionnaires and personal interviews only to find out that they had moved on to another candidate without telling me. I was waiting to get a date from them to take my family to the church for a final interview. Pastors and churches need to realize that potential pastor’s lives and families are also involved. They either need to fish or cut bait. Churches should be able to do honest evaluations for the position being filled. If a candidate is no longer in the running, let them know so they can move on as well.

I have also been on both sides of this process.  I used an add on church staffing to help the church I left a couple of years ago begin the process of searching for a new pastor and have recently been sending some resumes in search of a new opportunity myself.  Anyway, here are the two things that I’ve run into.  First, I could not believe how many pastors are just sending resumes right and left without even knowing where the church they are sending a resume to is located!  We were in central Kansas rural setting, a town of 1,000 people and got resumes from guys in California looking to move up to a larger setting!  I personally called about 50 people who had sent resumes and my first question was, “Do you know where XXXXX, KS is located.  Only 4 out of 50 had even bothered to get out the map and check the location of the town!  It’s unbelievable to me that someone would just fire off a resume without even knowing where they were sending it.  The bottom line is this makes it really difficult for churches to wade through all the mess that they get and try to select potential candidates.  I can understand why churches feel compelled to ask so many questions and have candidates jump through so many hoops trying to sort out the players.

On the other side of that coin I have to agree that churches should do a much better job of communicating with candidates who send resumes.  8 out of 10 churches never even acknowledge receiving my resume.  One church called 3 months after I sent my resume and asked if they could send me more questions.  I didn’t even know they were considering me!  Finally, I wholeheartedly agree with those who’ve stated that churches seem only interested in degrees and dvds.  I’ve got a pretty good resume and have been blessed with fruitful ministry over 15 years but my education doesn’t include a masters or a doctorate so I don’t even qualify to send a resume based on most of the qualifications pulpit teams lay out now.

While the efforts to aid searchers is appreciated, I would like comments qualifying postings. While I have tried to keep my searches in a surrounding states area, I have also found not all churches know what they want.

A few months ago, a web based job board contained notice of a job in another southeastern state. After speaking with a fellow administrator friend in that city to learn more about the advertising church, I took the additional step to call the listed church contact to verify they were accepting out of state applications. I was told they were. In following up a week after the posted deadline, in speaking with the pastor I was told “We have no money for interviewing!” Needless to say the extensive time used in research of the facility and city was wasted. In todays use of web based job boards is the applicant expected to bear all travel costs—both those for the interview and relocation if hired?

First of all, I want to thank you for this opportunity to share my experience with you, and would like to ask that anyone having advice would share such with me.

I am pursuing an opportunity in full time ministry following an absolute call upon my life of many years. I am what may be considered a second career individual having enjoyed a successful career where I served in progressive responsibilities of management with an international company for 26 years, then retiring from that industry in recent years. Still in my forties, I am pursuing a passion for ministry that has existed for over twenty years when I felt a definate call into ministry. Throughout the years, my wife and I have served in many areas of lay ministry, and during this time I had completed Biblical and Theological studies; and became licensed then ordained in preparation for ministry. During the past few years I served in an interim pastoral capacity for one congregation, and for several others in pulpit supply which allowed me to gain extensive experience relative of ministry.

To my advantage, and to a potential congregation’s benefit, is that I offer extensive experience; exceptional references; and no baggage from bad experiences of the past.

We have been candidates for nine churches in the past few months, some have gone on to call other ministers, other still in process. What I have found with consistancy to be interesting yet discouraging is that on each search committee there have been members who stick out. They appear to have their own agenda, and to have developed a pompous attitude that seems both unteachable and unreachable, yet they are serving in such an important role. In a secular position their contributions could not be justified, so why do churches allow such people to have such responsibility?

In closing, I know that God is continuously working on me to make me stronger in him. I am simply following God’s call upon my life, so why is it so hard to find that opportunity to serve him in such a leadership role?

I think that you missed the point totally.  The letter last week was only pointing out that some churches don’t have politeness when it comes to hiring.  Obviously this fellow you dealt with was not all there for he was not responding to what you had required.  However, this is so far removed from an equal flip side or opposite that it is clear that you were just venting frustrations.  You answered the communications from the fellow, but he did not follow through in his end.  You are to be commended but he isn’t.  On the other hand, as I said, you’re article was not an accurate reflection of the flip side because your point was not that is takes time to answer a resume, but that some moron couldn’t did do it.  Maybe I am wrong though.  Maybe it is an accurate flip.  The point of the last article was that churches can be rude when it comes to hiring.  I suppose your point was that canidates can be rude as well.  What bothered me was your comments about being on the churches time table.  This is true, but a degree of kindness from the church is after all Christlike and required.

I think that some excelent points have been made here.  Both sides can be at fault in an interview process. 

The church that issues the call should have some means of communicating with candidates so that candidates have some idea of where they stand.  However, candidates also need to respond to the church and any reasonable requests, the same as they would for a secular job.

Both sides need to remember to maintain a professional image at least in the process, even if run by a “bunch of amateurs”.  Being on a search committee takes the same skills many if not most of us us everyday in our work and social lives.  It is just a little more formalized.  Both sides need to remember to respect the other side.

I am currently the co-chair of a pastor search committee.  We began our task in March and from the beginning have sought God’s will and timing for our church.  Most of our meetings have started with a Bible Study or devotional.  We advertised on the internet and were surprised at the number of applicants we received.  Many were sent with informative cover letters or statements of belief that helped us tremendously in sorting through the stack.  It’s a very time consuming process obviously, just to read the information that has been sent.  One comment that I would like to add is the fact that our committee is made up of 12 faithful, dedicated volunteers who also work full-time jobs and have families and other committments.  It’s just not possible for any of us to devote the time that a human resources or staff person would have.  We often go 2 weeks between meetings because of busy schedules.  I can understand the frustrations on both sides of the hiring process.  I don’t have a solution, but will continually seek to serve the Lord as he has called for now.  Thanks for the great resources!

Obviously this person was not a good fit, but let me make a comment about churches. I also am a pastor waiting on the Lord for a ministry placement. I have worked in business, government and churches. The latter is by far the slowest in the decision making process. I would say the churches often give false expectations to candidates. They keep them in suspense far too long. If the person is not a good fit, may I suggest that church be honest and let the person know promptly. Secondly when churches are looking for a new staff person why not take the opportunity to review the decision making process. Does everybody and their dog really need to vote on every position. If you look at growing churches you will see that most have simplified their decision making process. I guess that is what Moses father in law was trying to tell Moses. Your thoughts!