Is your Baptist church engaged in a pastor search? What are the biblical criteria for the right pastor? And how should your church consider and call your next pastor?
This blog is for my fellow Baptists (especially Independent Baptists). If you're coming from a different denomination, some of these points may not apply to you. How should a Baptist church engage in a pastor search?
1) Pray
I won't belabor this obvious point, but it's worth saying. Don't dive into this pastor search process in the same way that a Board looks for an association CEO. Bathe the whole thing in prayer - from start to finish.
2) Start and end with biblical criteria
I would submit to you that "minimum ten years of experience at a large church" (or any such similar phrase) is NOT a biblical criterion for pastoral qualification. Same with requiring that your pastor come from a particular seminary. If you've studied the Bible at all, you know the biblical criteria for pastors. Paul is quite clear in his letters to Timothy and Titus.
I find it ironic that conservative, evangelical, fundamentalist Bible-believing search committees want their pastors to preach the Bible as the "Word of God" and our "ultimate authority," and yet these same search committees often use non-biblical criteria to select their pastors in the first place.
3) Test the candidate's biblical qualifications
Many pulpit committees use 'credential' requirements (years of experience, seminary degrees, etc.) as a way to get through the avalanche of resumes they often receive. There's a much better way to do it, though I admit it takes longer.
Ask the candidates up-front to provide a resume, cover letter, a written testimony (very important) explaining their salvation AND call to the ministry, a doctrinal statement, and REFERENCES from pastors they've trained under and/or served with. This information will take time to go through, but it will give you more substance to study and pray through as you narrow down your candidate list.
