This process is based on the Pastor Search Handbook provided by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and experience from previous iterations of the pastor search team.

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1.  Develop Church Profile and Job Description

Develop a profile of our church family and community, a senior pastor's job description, and preferred attributes to look for in a candidate. To find the preferred candidate attributes, create a church-wide survey to get input from all members.  The raw results of the first survey can be found here, and the key takeaways can be found here

 

2.  Post job opening 

The team submits the job opening to the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and the National Southern Baptist Convention pastor job boards for 30 days using the profiles and survey results from Step 1. 

 

Any candidates who do not match our criteria for a pastor  are thanked for their aplication but we are  declining to pursue them further.

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Search team members will then prayerfully review resumes and sermons from all remaining applicants. In reviewing applicants, each team member will independently and prayerfully determine a list of 5 candidates they think best represents the type of candidate the church would like to see.

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3.  Discussion of each members top 5 and creation of agreed top 5

All team members will reconvene and share their individual top 5 lists to collate into a single team top 5 list. At that time, several candidates will likely rise to the top after appearing on multiple team members' lists, making creating a single team top 5 list easier.

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4.   Contact Top 5 for theological questionnaire 

The top 5 candidates will be asked via email if they are interested in being considered for the position and to fill out a theological questionnaire. The team will also ask permission to run background and credit checks and reach out to provided references.  To preserve confidentiality, the search team will not contact any reference from the candidate's current church without express written permission.

 

5.  Contact Top 5 for background and credit checks

The top 5 candidates will be subject to background checks and credit checks, and references for the top 3 will be contacted. If any of these checks reveal any "red flags," the team will thank the candidate for their consideration, but it will be pursuing other candidates at this time.  Steps 4 and 5 will happen simultaniously

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6. First interview

If all the checks return favorably for the top candidate, the team chairman will contact the candidate via text and phone call to schedule an interview with the team.

 

At this time, if the candidate does not already have the previously prepared profiles for the church, our community, and what we're looking for in a pastor, we will send them to him.

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The team will also reach out to the other four candidates of the Top 5 and let them know we are pursuing one candidate at a time.

 

7.   Candidate Video Call

The team will then meet with the selected candidate via video call. Before the meeting, the search team will determine what specific questions they each want to ask the candidate to avoid asking the same question twice. The candidate can also ask additional questions about our church at this time.

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8.  Review of call and determine additional questions

After the initial interview, the team will prayerfully determine follow-up questions for the second interview.  Second interview call is scheduled

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9.  Team votes on candidate

After a second interview, the search team will vote internally on whether we feel the candidate is God's man for our church. The team will seek a unanimous consensus on this.

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10. Meeting with pastors and staff

The search team will then schedule a time for the candidate to meet with the other pastors (David Spalding, Phillip Cole, and Erin Feldges) and ministerial staff so that everyone can get to know each other.   The search team will ask the staff if they detected any "red flags" after their interaction with the candidate.

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11.  Candidate Preach in view of a call

If all meetings end favorably, the team will invite the candidate to preach one Sunday in accordance with the church bylaws. This would be when the candidate is presented to the whole church in view of a call to be our senior pastor.  This would also include a time for a "meet and greet" and a corporate Q&A with the pastor candidate.

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12  Team distributes Candidate Bio and resume 

Before the church vote, the team will send out the candidate's bio and resume to the church. The CBC Family website will provide links to his filled-out theology questionnaire and other sermons from the candidate.

 

13. Church Members Vote

Members can vote for or against the candidate between services the following Sunday.

 

 If at any point a candidate withdraws their application or any group decides not to pursue a candidate any longer, the pastor search team will return to step 6.

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