The Mechanics of the Search: Gathering Resumes

***Please note that we developed these processes over a few months. My assumption is that we relied on God for guidance through all of this. So understand that when I say something like “We did this and this” I am assuming that the readers will understand that we actively sought out God’s direction before we engaged in any particular task.***



We contacted the two large SBC seminaries in the deep south (SWBTS and NOBTS) as well as the various state conventions surrounding our area. We received by far the most resumes from our local association and received numerous names from church members as well. In a few cases, we received resumes directly from pastors. And lastly we personally solicited some from individuals known by the committee.


Most helpful were the resumes passed on to us by our associational office. I spent a fair amount of time with our Director of Missions and found him to be very helpful throughout this process. Whenever he sent me a resume, I could contact him and request additional information (off the record) and he never failed to give me additional context for the candidate.

We didn’t receive that many names from church members, just a handful. We repeatedly encouraged the church members to submit names, another attempt to keep them involved in the process. We contacted each of the suggested names and received resumes from maybe 1/3 of them.


We also made contact with several ministers in the area that the various committee members personally knew and thought would be a good fit at Lakeview. In most cases, they believed that God was calling them to remain in their current position of ministry. A variation on this practice led us to our new pastor. I contacted a mentor who works in our state office and he knew of a strong candidate that he recommended to us.

We had a few pastors send their resumes directly to us and generally took a dim view of that practice. Pastoral resume etiquette indicates that you get a friend, or D.O.M. to submit the resume on your behalf, along with a cover letter of support.

One of the grossest violations of common resume etiquette (in my opinion) was an application we received from a pastor after we had contacted him as a reference on another candidate!! While he spoke to us about another candidate, he asked us a few questions about our church and then later decided to submit his own resume. I disagreed with this practice, though not all on the committee agreed. Some on the committee saw no problem with this behavior.

But they were wrong.

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