Pastor Search Committee Questions

We've worked out a procedure for making initial contact with the candidates whose resumes we've received. As a committee, we reached the decision that I (in my role as committee chairman) would contact the candidates and ask them similar questions in the initial phone conversation. In order to standardize our communication and to treat each of the candidates as identically as possible, we developed the following questions.

When I first contact the candidate, I ask the following questions:

1. “Are you interested in being considered for the position of Pastor of Lakeview Baptist church?” A necessary question of course. A few times the answer has been “No.”

2. “Would you please tell me a little bit about yourself?”

We felt that this question was open ended enough that it would allow the candidate to talk about the things that are either most important to them or would best tell others about them. Many candidates share their testimony at this point, or will discuss their role as a father or husband. This question also serves as an ice breaker because it starts them off talking about themselves…and we all tend to like to do that!!

3. “Why do you feel that God may be leading you to another place of ministry?” This question identifies the elephant in the room by determining why they want to leave their current church, without asking it quite so blatantly. I’ve been appreciative about how honest and straightforward people have been. Some answers:

“I’ve got teen age kids and there’s nothing for them in this country church.”

“My current church is comprised of mostly senior adults who are satisfied with how church is.”

“God told me and my wife in January of this year that we would be going to another church.”

4. Our final question is “Given the fact that you have always pastored Baptist churches and attended a Baptist seminary, being a Baptist is obviously very important to you. Why is the Baptist tradition so important to you?”

This question gives an initial opportunity for the candidate to share a bit about their theology. Also if they are politically active in the convention they will often mention this fact at this time. Plus if they give an answer indicating that they haven’t thought through being Baptist, that reveals important information as well. Most of the answers revolve around the importance of baptism by immersion and inerrancy of Scripture.

One question that we had planned on asking was “Why do you feel that the Lord might be leading you to Lakewood Baptist?” We’ve abandoned that question because most of our resumes have been sent by Directors of Missions and friends, not be the candidates themselves.

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