Purpose: 

The Lead Pastor will lead the congregation by teaching and preaching the Scriptures as the Word of God and its application to life in our context. The Lead Pastor will engage church members and utilize resources in pursuit of an agreed, God-directed vision. The Lead Pastor is responsible for administrative oversight of paid staff and ministry teams.

The Lead Pastor is accountable to the Elder Board, who in turn are guardians of faith, mission, values, and vision. The Lead Pastor will oversee strategic planning, staff, departments, ministry teams and resources. Oversight includes support, encouragement, direction, mentoring, accountability and defense. 

The Lead Pastor will recognize the high visibility of his life and live as an example to believers in spiritual devotion, moral and ethical behavior. 

The role is more fully described in the church policies for the Lead Pastor and the Elder Board.  

Qualifications

Required:

• Experience in supervising paid staff and volunteers
• Effective communication skills, including preaching, teaching and writing
• Experience with leadership development and strategic planning
• Preparation and management of ministry plans and budgets
• Bachelor’s degree in ministry or related field

Preferred:

• Previous experience as a Lead Pastor 
• Degree or training beyond Bachelor’s degree

Responsibilities

Preaching:

• Provide biblically based preaching and teaching that is engaging, persuasive, and applicable
• Ensure that teaching in Sunday school, youth groups, small groups, etc. aligns with sound doctrine and our statement of faith.   

Pastoral Care: 

• The Lead Pastor is expected to be personally involved in providing Pastoral care to the congregation but is not expected to be the sole provider.
• Engage the congregation through personal contact beyond Sunday morning
• Attend and support church functions
• Provide a sense of stability in leadership
• Be available with an empathetic response to crisis or counseling situations that arise

Administrative:

• Hold the staff accountable to standards of excellence in ministry practice
• Supervise and work with church staff and ministry teams
• Evaluate paid staff annually including a review of compensation.  Present budgets to the Elder Board as part of the annual budget request process
• Inform the Elder Board of any relevant trends, church issues, needs, external or internal changes or problems that could affect the ministry positively or negatively
• Lead searches for the hiring of paid staff.  Recommend hirings and dismissals of staff when needed with approval of the Elder Board