A Pastoral Question

My situation was slightly different.... Minister A was filling pulpet and asked to become pastor. He declined, so they asked me to candidate. Minister A was asked if I did not work out, if he would become "interim pastor". He said yes this was the Sunday morning the vote was taken. We knew nothing about minister A or I would not have even considered the church.

DOM knew what was up, told the church they were wrong to do it, but also withheld the info to me.

3 months later the interrim pastor is now their pastor after they used me as a bargaining chip for 2 months waiting with no income and no certainty to encourage me to find a real job.

I would have to have God make it really, really clear that He wanted me there to accept any position at that church.

 

In another thread, someone posted a good list of questions that separated pastor search teams between those who are searching as the Holy Spirit guides them and those who are filling a job.

To me, any time a search team has any kind of comparison in their search they are allowing too much of them and too little of the Holy Spirit in the decision. If I were Pastor A in this situation, I'd decline and go look for a church where the Holy Spirit guided such decisions.

 

Any church or search committee which pits one candidate for pastor against another is way off base. After the search committee has narrowed the field, it needs to deal only with one candidate. If he does't pan out, start over. Never lead a prospective pastor out there twisting in the wind while you deal with somebody else. It's not ethical.

 

This is solid counsel!

If they treat their vocational ministers in this fashion when they are trying to invite someone to lead them, just think what they will do when times get difficult!!

Unless you have a very strong impression that God wants you there, steer clear of these folks.

 

That's right!

As a pastor, I would never want to knowingly deal with a church that handles the process this way. The problem is that not every church is up front with their process.