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The Role of the Senior Pastor
As a result of outstanding pastoral leadership in the past, Mt.
Pleasant Community Church has high expectations for its next
Senior Pastor. At the same time, the church realizes that no one
should be expected to be perfect or “omni-competent.” What the
church is looking for in its next Senior Pastor is a man who is
gifted, experienced, and called to fill the following roles:
(1) Leader. The church desires someone who is a gifted
leader, able to inspire others because he understands where God
is leading the congregation and has earned their respect. The
Senior Pastor’s leadership will be expressed most visibly in his
preaching ministry and the worship services, but will extend to
all interactions, large or small, with the church.
(2) Visionary. The Senior Pastor must be someone who, in
partnership with the elders and Executive Staff, can discern
where God is leading Community Church. This person must be able
to communicate that vision and keep it before the people in
creative, compelling ways that inspire buy-in, hope, and
commitment. While honoring and building upon the church’s strong
legacy, he should have a keen interest in taking the church to
the “next level,” whatever that turns out to be. To that end,
the Senior Pastor’s aim should be to help Community Church
concentrate on the key things we ought to be about, rather than
trying to be all things to all people. Certainly the expectation
is that Community Church will remain “outward focused” in the
sense of fulfilling its mission to Central Michigan, and any new
ideas and strategies should “fit” our culture.
(3) Communicator. Community Church has always been known
for its strong, solid Bible teaching, and the church fully
expects its next Senior Pastor to continue that legacy. This
person will need to have noteworthy communication skills as a
dynamic speaker who can wrap biblical truth in humor and grace,
make it very understandable and applicable to people’s daily
experience, and cause people to come back week after week for
more of God’s Word. The pulpit ministry must be “grace-filled”
in that it provides a safe venue for exploring faith. It also
must be culturally relevant, able to address any topic, even
touchy or controversial ones, from Scripture with credibility
and sincerity. |
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(4) Team leader. The next Senior Pastor must be able to lead
a team of exceptionally talented staff comprised of experienced men
and women leaders who have strong personalities, strong opinions,
and strong loyalty to and from Community Church. They are looking
for overall direction, empowerment, and coordination from their team
leader, not micro-management. The Senior Pastor is expected to
recognize and make good use of their strengths, while offering them
new opportunities and challenges. At the same time, he needs to
pastor the staff, lead them away from over-commitment and burnout,
and provide a source of encouragement, discipline, authority, and
accountability.
(5) Organization-builder. Community Church has enjoyed a
lengthy period of numerical growth. But in order to step up to the
“next level,” the church needs to build an organization capable of
supporting its existing numbers, as well as ready to take on the new
challenges of the future. The next Senior Pastor needs to be an
organizational-builder, not for the sake of organization, but to
make the church effective in carrying out its mission. This means
inspiring its laypeople to lead and to discover and use their
giftedness. The idea is to raise up and strategically deploy a
well-equipped and well-organized force of God’s people who are
prepared to live out the gospel of Christ in Central Michigan.
(6) Discipler/Equipper. Following from what was just said
about numerical growth, the congregation now needs to develop a
greater depth in its spiritual maturity—who they are in Christ, and
how to become faithful Christ-followers. With a firm conviction that
Community Church is about more than the person who preaches, the
church desires a Senior Pastor who understands how to raise up
disciples and equip them for fruitful service. We especially seek
someone who will partner with our parents and equip them to develop
Christ-centered families.
(7) Community Member. Community Church seeks a Senior Pastor
who is “one of us” by being thoroughly involved in the Mt. Pleasant
community. We want an accessible pastor who understands our world,
is able to relate to people one-on-one, has personal relationships
with people throughout our community, is a good listener to a wide
range of voices, and is able to discern from those conversations
what our church and region need to hear from God’s Word.
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1400 West Broomfield Street,
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858 |
989-773-3641 |
info@mpcc.org
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