I closed my blog that dealt with SBC issues some time ago. Not wanting to lose all the posts, I’m re-publishing some of them here with the date they were originally posted.
Marty (SBC Outpost) as a couple of posts on the pastor search process: Fantastic Lies, Pastor Search Style and Pastor Search, Part 2. The first post focused on the misrepresentations and lies told to ministers by search teams. The comments are numerous, but well worth the time to read.
In the second post, Marty writes,
My experience has been, personally and talking with other pastors, is that most Pastor Search Teams describe the church in terms of how they wish is was, not its actual condition. IOW, many times they aren’t intentionally lying, they just don’t know what they are saying.
The same, unfortunately, could be said of ministers during the search process.
I’ve been around to help churches and lay-leaders pick up the pieces after the new pastor they called left things in a shambles. (I’ve done this both as an interim and in my counseling practice.) There is one church in NE Oklahoma that hires one of my colleagues to conduct an interview, complete with psychometric testing, on all potential staff members. I don’t recommend this as a matter of course for most churches, but this congregation has a long history of poor decisions and I admire their willingness to ask for help.
The biggest problem I see is pastors whose interpersonal relationships are a mess. These are men who may have accomplished much at their last church but have few if any friends. No friends means no encouragement, no support, and little, if any, accountability. (A good friend is like a good coach: he knows when to put his arm around you and praise your effort and he knows when to give you a swift kick and tell you to take another lap.)
Poor relationships often extend to their wife and children. Want to know a man’s problem solving style? Look at how he and his wife negotiate life’s problems. More than one pastor I know has found himself without a church because he tried using the same explosive, bullying tactics with his congregation that had seemed to work with his wife. Others have grown resentful after saying, “Yes, Dear” to the deacons or personnel committee and can’t wait to find a different, lower maintenance congregation.
Few pastors pad their resume or lie about their accomplishments. The misleading statements take the guise of how they wish they were, not how they are.
Experience tells me pastors’ work ethic tends to run to extremes. Some are busy doing everything in the church and community because they have confused workaholism, poor boundaries, or fear of failure for ministry. Others seemed genuinely convinced ALL ministry can occur on the golf course or the tennis court.
Some pastors simply don’t recognize their own strengths (and weaknesses). The difference between mediocre and inspiring preaching may have more to do with the readiness of the hearers than the gifts of the preacher. Some confuse the Sunday morning handshake and “great job, preacher” with a unbiased, analytical appraisal of their gifts and talents.
Finally, there are some men who appear to believe they can keep their secret sin hidden. You can’t. It will find you out in the end. And then, the church is left wondering what’s wrong with them that they called a man as pastor who spent sermon prep time surfing the internet for porn. Or worse.
Calling a pastor – accepting a call, if you’re on the other side of the equation – is a process that involves time, prayer, faith, and some insight into human nature. It’s not a process that can or should be rushed. It’s a process that calls for neither naivete nor cynicism.
You would think as often as most of our churches have to do this, we’d get good at it.
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