The Unexpected

In a foolish turn of events, I have been elected chairman of our pastor’s search committee. We had not met as a committee for the last two weeks because a family tragedy kept one member of the committee away. Since first on our agenda was the election of a chairman, vice-chairman and a secretary, we decided not to meet again until we could each be present.

Last night we met and voted without taking any nominations. We simply filled out ballots for the three positions. It is not the role I would’ve selected for myself, but the members of the committee were very supportive.

In the days leading up to the meeting, I began thinking about the strengths of the various individuals in the group. I was going to give my thoughts to the new chairman, but will post them online instead. (I shared them with the committee after the vote took place and asked them to pray about them).

I designated a person to be a liaison with each of the following groups: deacons, stewardship and personnel committees, senior adults, and the church staff. I also designated one person to head up our devotional-prayer time and one person to be in charge of communication (both internal to the group and external with the church). I encouraged each member to pray about these positions of responsibility and I hope that they will use them to be a focus of communication with that particular group. I was especially concerned about designating someone to work with the senior adults and to make sure that they feel represented on our committee.

We also made a decision about the two alternates. The church by-laws state that the committee is comprised of 7 members and 2 alternates. There was some discussion about excluding the two alternates from the meetings unless one needs to be added to the committee. That seems to me to go against the rationale of having alternates because they would need to be brought up to speed if they were going to participate. Why not simply have the congregation vote on a new member in the event that the need arises?? So we concluded that the two alternates will participate in all of the meetings, but will not vote, nor will they travel to listen to any of the potential candidates.

Finally we decided to develop a covenant (sound familiar??) that will serve to guide us as a committee. It will address our commitment to unity, confidentiality and obedience. The Sunday after next we will share it with the church.

Any suggestions on what should be a part of a Pastor Search Committee covenant????

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