Meeting the Candidate

After our series of interviews, the committee reached a consensus on one particular candidate. We decided early on that when we began the second series of interviews, we would focus on only one candidate at a time. Initially, four of us traveled across the state to hear him preach at a church that was half-way between us. When we saw him we were shocked. He’s thirty years old and barely looks that. His wife is even younger. My initial thought was “He’s way too young and the older folks in the church would never like him.” But we introduced ourselves and he made a favorable first impression.

The sermon went well. His style was quite different from our previous minister who often equated volume with passion. While his approach is more conversational, the message was still challenging. Particularly positive from our perspective was that he preached a sermon appropriate to the church. It is a church located in a neighborhood transitioning from predominately white to predominately African-American. But the church shows little evidence of changing to meet the needs of the new community. His sermon was direct and challenging. Surprisingly (to us) the sermon was not directed to a search committee, but it was pointed directly at the church.

Following the service, we took him and his wife (and three kids) out to lunch. It was an enjoyable meal and didn’t feel at all like an interview. We had a very nice conversation with them for over four hours (!?). He and his wife shared their testimonies and provided a compelling narrative covering how God has been working their lives.

After they left, we discussed the meeting and all four of us felt that we had been a part of something very special. We each had an identical first impression (he’s too young) and then our perceptions began to change throughout the service and the subsequent meal. Two of the four who went later shared that at this meal they were convinced that he was the man God was leading to our church. (Lacking such discernment myself, it would only be later that I would reach the same conclusion). But clearly we each felt a rising sense of excitement by the end of the meal.

As we turned our mini-van toward home, I got a call from another member of the committee who had traveled to a different church that morning. Before he could give me a summary of his visit I interrupted him and said “Jim, I’ve got someone the rest of the committee needs to meet…”

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