Casting The Net Wide

In my last posting I talked about casting the net wide when it comes to looking for a new ministry position. Instead of limiting my options as to where God might be leading me, when I found myself having to look for a new ministry position, I tried to spread the net as wide as possible. For example:

Geography: The temptation was to only look for churches in the Midwest, which is where my wife and I are the most comfortable living, or within a half day’s drive of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where both of my kids were in college. Instead, I made the decision that I would not refuse to send a resume' to a church based simply on where they were located. In fact, in order to keep my sanity, I played a little game and made it a goal to send out a resume' to a church in all 50 states (I ended up with over 40).

Denomination: I had only pastored in one fellowship of churches my entire 24 years in ministry before having to look for a new position. It would have been natural to say that I would only look for a new position in that same fellowship of churches. Instead, I decided that I would not refuse to send out a resume' to a church based solely on their denominational affiliation. Instead, if I agreed with that church’s statement of faith, I decided I would send out a resume' to them.

Size: The church I had previously pastored had grown significantly and was considered a “larger” church. It would have been easy for me to say I would only send resumes out to churches that are the same size as the church I had just left. Instead, I made the decision that if a church was at least 250 in average attendance I would send them a resume' (I had to pick some parameter or else I would have sent out hundreds upon hundreds of resumes).

Worship Style: I am used to more of a contemporary and creative style of worship so it would have been easy to say that I would only send a resume' to churches with a contemporary music style. However, I believe that God can work in many different styles of churches so I made the decision not to refuse sending a resume' to a church based on a certain style of worship.

So for me, spreading the net wide meant that I would send a resume' to any church that was looking for a Senior Pastor that was at least 250 in average Sunday attendance and had a doctrinal statement I agreed with in spite of the denominational affiliation, geographical location, or worship style. I would then let God be the one to sort out the churches that got caught in my net.
But how did I find out about the churches that were looking for a pastor. I’ll talk about that in my next blog posting.

Be sure to read my other blog at http://www.folkslisten.blogspot.com/. You can leave a comment at either blog or email me directly at skdistler@gmail.com.