For my project I Interviewed Pastor Randy Eliason and had him take me through the hiring process of his church.
Disclaimer* the interview process doesn’t always start the
same way.
Pastoral staff position, they would contact the distract and
any neighboring district and see if they had any résumés and post the job
opening on the national website that the assembly of God has.
1)
As they get the résumé he would contact the
person through email. Thanking them for sending the résumé and ask them if they
were interesting they would be in contact in the next couple weeks. Giving them
a time frame of when they can expect to be contacted, and if they are not
contacted they will know that they have not been chosen to continue the
interview process.
2)
Then they would do a phone interview, asking
them
a.
3 categories
i. Character
1.
Where they stand on different things
2.
Do they hold the same kind of values as the
church
3.
What they have done and what they are going to
do
4.
What is their work ethic
5.
Where they expect to be in the future and what
their expectations of themselves are.
a.
It makes a difference on what position you
intended to hire as to what kinds of questions you will be asking
i. If
they were right out of bible college
1.
You would not hire for certain positions
ii. Chemistry
1.
Style
a.
When it comes to preaching/teaching and other
areas
2.
What they read
a.
Tell me about some books that you’ve read
recently
b.
What kinds of books do you enjoy reading and
which ones do you dislike
3.
What their expectations are of the position
4.
How many hours they expect to work each week
5.
What the churches expectations for the hired
person are
a.
A minister ought to be willing to put in 40
hours outside of when everyone is inside the church of church
i. It
is unfair to ask people in the congregation to come to church activities or be
a part of the church outside of their normal 40-hour workweek without the pastor
doing the same.
1.
A minimum of 45 hours but more like 50
6.
Do they approach ministry as a job or as a
calling
7.
Try to explore their personal faith
a.
How did they come to the Lord
b.
When were they called
c.
What is their passion and vision in the future
d.
What is their kingdom work
8.
Do they operate more of a traditional or more
charismatic
9.
Are they program oriented or missional oriented
in the their thinking
iii. Competency
1.
You want to make sure the person has good people
skills, that they have a good head on their shoulders and know what they want
in their future ministry.
2.
They understand what the church expects of them
and they have good questions for the organization trying to hire them
3.
Basically you want to know they are professional
and not a lazy person looking for a job.
iv. References
are huge
1.
They give you a window into the persons
character
2.
Try to talk to one other person who is not a
reference
a.
This way you can get an overall understanding of
who they are
b.
Usually this person will give you a non-bias
opinion of the true person you will be hiring. They usually have nothing to
hide
3.
When talking to the reference he asks them to
give a fair and true understanding of their strengths and weaknesses
4.
Personal story: When hiring a music pastor he
called the secular (hospital) boss for character flaws
a.
A long pause took place and then she said
“honestly she said that usually he had no problems, she said you can’t find
many people like him”
i. So
they hired this guy
b.
Try to probe and give as much opportunity as
possible to give any problems or what may be wrong
b.
Then if they have any interest to further the
interview process they will have the person come in for a sit down interview
i. This
is what the church is willing to pay you and benefits and everything
1.
This way they don’t go through the whole process
and get to the end and at the end they don’t want the position because
c.
Last they would try to have a whole interview
with the board with the senior pastor. If any other position the senior pastor
is doing the hiring and they usually have the board to look for any red flags.
i. This
gives the person the opportunity to ask any questions and the board asks them
questions.
d.
For wondering about the persons preaching
i. He
suggest to simply find it online or get a recording of the person
ii. He
stresses when getting to know the person the most important thing is to talk to
references and go a step further and find someone who has known the person for
more than 5 years. Because in this case
iii. Look
at their upbringing
1.
Youth group
2.
As opposed Saved just before bible college
iv. Children’s
pastor or youth pastor who are recently out of church
1.
You have less of a track record to evaluate
2.
When there is someone who has been in ministry
for 20 or so years
3)
Ask the person if they have a solid theological
foundation
a.
When you are given the title
4)
People’s skills are also very important
a.
Learn this more from the references because when
asking the
5)
What kind of skills do they have
a.
Computer skills
b.
Have they lead any events or things of that sort
c.
Physical
d.
Speaking skill
e.
Administrative skills
f.
Some people are more people oriented
6)
Whether a person considers themselves to be a
thinker, feeler, or doer
a.
Are they analytical
b.
Emotional and impulsive
i. Want
to know what their emotional state will be when hired
7)
The whole process is more of an art than a
science
a.
But there are definite criteria that you can
follow
