Protocol for Hiring a New Pastor 2024

Svpc   -   May 1, 2024

Here is a road map, of sorts, that the Pastor’s Nominating Committee is following as we prayerfully do the work of finding God’s best candidate as our next pastor:

  1. Develop church profile to provide information for potential applicants.
  2. Based upon congregation survey results, interviews with congregants, a staffing model developed by Session, input from ECO’s Mission Partnership Team, and deliberation by the PNC – develop a job description that will be made available to potential applicants via the church’s website, ECO’s job posting process and other means deemed worth using by the PNC.
  3. Have Session and ECO’s rep, Rev. Dave Kerr, read job description and make any adjustments necessary.  Do final editing of job description.
  4. Ensure that Jason Meyer knows that he is welcome to apply for the position of Senior Pastor, but does not need to feel obligated to do so should he have other plans.  It is imperative that he, along with all of us on the PNC, understand that our job is to do our very best to hire the person that God wants to be the leader of this body of believers.  We must carefully and prayerfully consider each application we receive with hearts and minds completely open to God’s leading, recognizing that we need to submit our individual wills to that of our Lord.
  5. Follow the ECO Pastor Nominating Committee Timeline (shared document) to go through the process of accepting applications, evaluating, interviewing, praying, making a decision on whom to put forward to the congregation as the next possible Senior Pastor.
  6. Give ourselves an 8-week window between the time we make a decision as to whom to nominate and our determined Hiring Date.
  7. Determine a date for Rick Lemberg’s final day of employment, and put that in a document that will be signed by Rick and by the Session’s representative(s).  Possibly that date should coincide with the date that the nominee comes to Sierra Vista to preach, and be voted upon.
  8. Invite the nominee to preach at Sierra Vista and have the congregation vote 6 weeks before the determined Hiring Date.
  9. When we offer a contract to the individual chosen, the Hiring Date must be included.
  10. During the 6-week transition time have guest speakers/ministers.  Persons asked to give the message should be determined by church leadership (based on who is in leadership position – staff, session [?]).