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Many people may not be familiar with the process of a lead pastor search. Is there an Indeed or LinkedIn page for pastors? Well, sort of. Here’s a quick recap of what the pastor search team has done to go from a large pool of applicants to a short list of potential candidates.

After creating the 3 profiles that would be part of the job posting (Church Profile, Community Profile, Candidate Profile), the job opening was posted to a number of job search sites,  including many that are specifically for ministers and pastors, for a period of 8 weeks. At this point the pastor search team honestly had no idea what to expect. We weren’t sure whether to expect 50 applications or 5. It was during this open application time that we began to see our Ephesians 3:20-21 prayer come to life. The God who is able to do exceedingly more than we can imagine began to move. Over those 8 weeks we received over 100 applications for the Lead Pastor position at Real Life Church! It was incredible to know that over 100 people were willing to consider the position. 

Thus began the exciting yet humbling process of narrowing down a list of candidates from triple digits to single digits. Over a period of several weeks, different pastor search team members combed through resumes and cover letters looking for the qualifications that had been set forth in the candidate profile along with desired qualifications and characteristics that the team had agreed upon early on in this process. The potential candidate pool began to work itself down to a manageable number until eventually landing at 6 top candidates. From 100+ down to 6! 

As the title of this post suggests, although months of work has been done up to this point, in many ways now is the point in the process where the real search begins. Over the next few weeks the pastor search team will begin the process of evaluating the top candidates at a deeper level. Through phone conversations, questionnaires, sermon sample evaluations, and other tools, the pastor search team will seek to understand the heart of each candidate, all the while trusting and asking God to fill us with wisdom and lead us to the lead pastor that he has chosen for Real Life Church. 

Now more than ever we need to pray as a church. Pray for the next phase of this search process as we begin to get to know these candidates as more than just a name on a resume. Pray for wisdom from heaven to guide us. Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead the team to the right candidate. And pray for our church to continue to walk in unity and faith as we continue in this interim season. 

Some might say that finding our next lead pastor is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But hey, we did just have over 400 bales of hay in the parking lot for Fall Fest. We’re used to haystacks! Let’s believe God for all he has in store for Real Life Church!