Seeking an Associate Pastor of Discipleship…Together

As we re-launch our search for an Associate Pastor of Discipleship, Laura Range shares where we are in the process and how you can help.

I’m currently participating in my third search for a staff member at NSCBC, this time leading the search for the Associate Pastor of Discipleship. After six months of active searching, we recently went from several promising candidates down to zero – not because they weren’t quality candidates or people, but because we are committed to finding the right fit for this position and needed to follow where we felt the Lord was leading.

And so, we find ourselves relaunching our search.

Deep breath.

One of the beautiful things about scripture is that it’s a record of God’s faithfulness. When confronted with your own fears, uncertainties, and challenges in life, it is both comforting and powerful to read about how the Lord has been mighty to save in the past. I’ve been a Christian long enough that my own story can now also bear witness to God’s faithfulness and presence, and remembering the Lord’s interaction in our own past can start to transform my fears and uncertainties about the future.

In all honesty, it’s a daunting task to search for a staff position at a church. There are so many considerations: theology, experience, personality, familiarity with the area and local culture, sense of calling, social, emotional, and spiritual health, fit, fit, fit…the list goes on. So when we went down to zero candidates, it was tempting to worry…and yet, I’ve been here before.

When I was on the Senior Pastor search committee, we went from four candidates down to zero years into our process. The circumstances were a bit nerve-wracking; we’d been at our search for a Senior Pastor for a while, we felt the weight of the decision and the importance of the role, and we were getting fewer applicants than we were at the outset. And yet, we could not argue with the fact that we all felt clear leading from the Lord in our decisions, and so God gave us peace. We trusted and persevered, and six months later we started a conversation with Bobby. In retrospect, the church needed the time to continue healing, to clarify our policies and structure, to pray corporately, and also to allow time for Bobby to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading to transition back to the United States.

As we relaunch our search for the Associate Pastor of Discipleship, we have a renewed desire to invite you to join us in both prayer and networking. There are two primary ways that we would like support from you:

Prayer

This is massive! We can’t, in our own strength, find the right person for this position. What we can do is pray, and let God be glorified when the right person comes. In the coming weeks, you’ll be hearing more from us about how you can pray: both at home and at a prayer event on Thursday, June 22.

Networking

We want YOU to help us get the word out! After all, as we search for a person who understands our culture, context, and ministry needs, it seems likely that one of us might know such a person! Here’s two ways to do that:

  1. Forward an email. On Monday, June 12, the church office is going to be sending out an email with information about the position and a video that casts the vision for the position. Simply forward the email to anyone whom (1) you think might be qualified or (2) you think might know someone who might be qualified.
  2. Share on Facebook. At the same time, the church will be sharing a video that casts the vision for the position. Here’s what you can do:

From the church Facebook page, find the video, then click “Share”:

When you click “Share”, something that looks like this will pop up.

Type a message that’s something like this:

“Friends, our church is looking for an Associate Pastor of Discipleship. Please SHARE this post on your timeline or with anyone you think might be interested!”

You can “tag” people you especially want to see this post (people with connections in ministry, etc.) by typing “@” then their name. In the example photo, I’ve started to “tag” Clayton Range, so he would be notified about the post.

Believe it or not, Facebook has become a major way to reach people for jobs, and even something simple can get many, many views on the Internet. If all of us who are on Facebook share this video, it can reach thousands of people very quickly.

Please let me know if you have questions, and thanks for your support!

Learn more about the Associate Pastor of Discipleship position at search.nscbc.org.

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