i get emails on various subjects & questions rather often. i enjoy helping where i can & so far all requests and questions are reasonable.. one recent email asked advice as they began their search and interviews for a new youth pastor. here was my quick response to get to inbox zero.
i could go on and on with a ramble of the hiring process that churches perform for their youth ministry positions. since i wouldn't want to subject you to that, i will do my bullet point system. that keeps me a little more focused.
- be as professional as possible. my current church was probably the best hiring experience i have had to date. partly due to the chair of the committee being a vice president overseeing human resources for a fortune 500. he set the parameters, had everyone prepped and communicated very well to me throughout the process. it was not a short or simplified process either. which would lead to point two
- have an idea of what you are looking for first.. do you want a relationships person? do you want an administrator person? growth person? formation person? basically, what is the strength you want this person to have? finding a person who is a jack of all trades, or has multiple gifts, is fine but there will inevitably be something that they don't do well that folks will have an opportunity to get frustrated with. ie. a relationships person is not the best finance person.. so if they are solely responsible for all finances then you may have an issue, but if you have people on staff who help or oversee that portion of the ministry more day to day, then you can move comfortably & with a sense of communication (people can say, 'we hired them knowing this...'). evening having this conversation will be helpful in talking up the strengths of candidates.
- don't string this on without communication. comes back to the professionalism thing, but i've known some churches to drag on their process for months, calling candidates back for more interviews and meet ups. if you are going to make a decision in january, explain why and check back with candidates.
- do not make a hire before you closing date. i saw your closing date is in the end of january. either change that or fulfill the open period until then. i've done some searching in the past and have been upset to find people have finished their searches before their application period even closed.
i'd go on for a few more. if you have some specific questions i could probably help more to your needs. right now i need to get back to some of my family responsibilities
tim schmoyer today (in my reader it was today) has a post a more thorough thought process on hiring "an ideal youth pastor."
What if our youth ministries were known more for what they are rather than what they do? What if every kid in town knew our ministry as, “Yeah, that’s the place where everyone feels loved and accepted,” instead of, “Oh yeah, that’s the church that goes on the ski trip every year, right?” Ski trips are fine and all, but we don’t do ski trips just because that’s what youth group’s do. We go on ski trips because there’s something about us that compels us to do it.
The ideal youth ministry starts with us, the leaders. The ideal youth pastor isn’t the person who can fulfill the longest bullet-point list job description of functions; it’s the person who knows who he/she is in ministry and let’s everything else in ministry flow from that. For this person, everything stems from two things: love and passion.
what are your thoughts on your ideal youth pastor? how are they identified? how is that reflected in your church's youth ministry?
