What would it be like to hear some of the great church leaders of today, and to limit each of them to six minutes for their talk?
What would it be like to ask them what key learning could be a Game Changer for your life and ministry?
That’s what will happen on September 9th when The Nines goes live on the Internet.
In one day, you can hear over 100 of the best church leaders, six minutes each, each one talking about Game Changers.
And it’s all free.
The Vanderbloemen Search Group is pleased to be a sponsor of this event. Lots of the speakers are clients and friends of ours. It will be on our computers all day. It should be on yours. And if you want a premium registration (goodies included), you can get a discount by entering “VSG” in the promotional code upon registering.
Thanks to Leadership Network for putting this together, and bringing great teaching to us, in short format, at no cost, and in our homes. You guys are great to know and call friends.
Unless we are the pastor when our church closes, or we happen to be the pastor when Jesus returns, we are all only in our churches for a temporary stay. And I believe the most critical task for a church leader is to do all he can to secure the long-term future of the church.
"because we are all interim pastors."
Today, a fabulous resource for churches looking at a transition releases.
I’m recommending that every one of our clients read, Transition Plan
Bob Russell, the previous pastor at Southeast Church in Louisville, KY has written an account of the hand off that he, Dave Stone (the current pastor) and the church leadership planned. Their story is perhaps the best known story of a successful transition, particularly in a larger church.
While every church has different needs, and every transition plan should be hand crafted around their particular situation, this book is a must read.
Why? Because we are all interim pastors. And the call to care for Christ’s church extends beyond our temporary stay.
What is your church doing to plan for the next chapter? We’re constantly learning, reading stories, and working on tailor made transition plans and would love to hear your story.
——————————————–
PS – A while back, my colleague Tony Morgan interviewed me about the need for succession planning in churches. More and more frequently, our firm is getting calls from churches asking us to help plan and execute the transition from one pastorate to the next. Read the interview, and if you all need help crafting your own plan, contact us. We’d be happy to visit with you.
Resumes should be clear and concise, but they must also be compelling. And the single most compelling thing you can tell me is that you will bring a return on the investment of my money.
Every hire in an organization is an investment of capital. In the church world, that’s capital that comes out of offering plates and widow’s cupboards. Particularly in a lean economy, this makes every hire at the same time questionable and precious.
So how can your resume justify you as a good investment of precious resource? There’s an old adage in management that says, “the best predictor of future performance is past performance.”
“the best predictor of future performance is past performance.”
Showing me your prior successes will encourage me to believe in your future success. It’s almost a Jerry McGuire way of “showing me the money.” Try incorporating the following into your resume, and it will become a competitive advantage for you:
1. Show me the ways you have met or exceeded the expectations of your job.
2. Show me an initiative you started or helped lead
3. Tell me the results of your leadership
4. Show me something you did that you weren’t asked to do.
5. Show me the ultimate profit margin in church work.
When you show me these things, you are essentially showing me the money. If you will remember that every hire is an investment, and show how you are a good investment, your resume will stand out, and may even be a difference maker in the hiring process
(this post was submitted by William Vanderbloemen)
A while back, the phone rang. It was a super talented candidate in ministry who wondered if I had a few minutes for career counseling:
“William, how do I ask for a raise without losing my job?”
Great question from a great guy. He loves his church and his job, but really needs to know if there’s any chance of providing for his family a little better. So what’s a guy to do? Ask the wrong way, and you’re on the wrong side of the boss. You might even end up with no raise and a cardboard box.
We talked for a while, but the bottom line of our talk was two fold:
Do your homework and remember who’s the boss.
During my work as a senior pastor, in human resources, and now in executive search, I’ve come to believe that these two points are key to effectively asking for a raise.
Homework
Doing your homework before the meeting can make all the difference:
More than anything, study and rehearse how and why you deserve a raise. What value have you added to the organization? How is the mission of the church better off because of your participation on the team. Be prepared to clearly and efficiently articulate why you are making a difference.
Benchmark your salary for your job. Before you go into a meeting to ask for a raise, you need to know if you deserve one. There are numerous resources online that can help you understand where your pay falls into the national averages.
Talk to colleagues. Church salaries can be particularly tricky to get an online average pay, as the “industry” is rather unique and there are often jobs that don’t fall into one neat category.
Learn your organization. The longer I work at helping churches and ministries find staff, the more I realize that every church pays differently. Some are below market and proud of it. If that’s your situation, you should set lower expectations for a raise. While you shouldn’t expect to know what everyone in your organization makes, you can probably get a general idea with a few sensitive quesitons.
Learn how and when to ask. Timing can be everything. Many churches have an employee handbook that will outline how and when raises and bonuses are given.
Respect
The Bible reminds us to respect those in authority over us. That includes your boss, even if you don’t like him. Compensation meetings can be your prime opportunity to show respect (without being fake). Never forget who the boss is. Meetings that back your supervisor in a corner will usually end poorly.
Do all you can to honestly seek your boss’ approval before you ever get to the meeting. See Michael Hyatt’s must read piece on this.
Make a list of ways you have helped the organization, especially ones that are not in your job description. What initiatives have you undertaken that weren’t necessary? What are you doing that you were never asked to do?
Show your passion for your job. In donor development, we always say that “dollars follow vision, not guilt.” Show your boss how much you believe in what is happening at your church, and how much you want to be a part of what’s going on. Raises follow those who are sold out to the vision of the church.
Avoid the pity party. Just as you cannot guilt people into long term generosity, you cannot guilt your boss into a raise. Usually, just the opposite is true. A pity party forgets that your boss is your boss, and plays on his emotions. It usually causes bosses to see employees as needy at best, and a liability at worst.
Never, ever say “If I don’t get a raise, I may not be able to stay here.” At this point, the employer is no longer the employer. You have essentially held your boss blackmail. Most bosses, if they are smart, will take you up on your offer to leave the organization.
Be specific. With a well researched opinion, be prepared (if asked) to give a reasonable amount of increase that you believe you deserve. Don’t be guilty of “not having because you never asked.”
I hope this helps you, and would love to hear your stories, opinions, or additions to this list. What would you add to the conversation?
- William
The Vanderbloemen Search Group is a retained executive search firm that helps churches find their key staff. Searches for large, fast growing churches with a focus on reaching the un-churched has become an area of particular expertise for our firm. Should your church need assistance in this sort of search, feel free to contact us.
We are pleased to announce a new search for another large, growing, vibrant church.
Grace Family Church in Tampa, FL has retained our firm to help find their new Student and Teaching Pastor.
Grace Family is a non-denominational congregation with a strong vision and track record for reaching the unchurched. In its 25+ year history, Grace Family has become nationally renowned for its innovations and willingness to try nearly anything to reach those far from God.
The church’s track record speaks for itself. The average attendance exceeds 5000, with the majority of all attendees having encountered faith and been baptized at Grace Family. The church has posted an annual positive growth rate almost every year of its existence.
The successful candidate will not only lead the Student ministries at Grace Family, but will also teach at the larger weekend services on a regular basis. The church boasts outstanding facilities, a pristine reputation, and the Student ministries has the full support of the founding and Senior Pastor, Craig Altman, who started his days in ministry working with students.
If this position interests you or if you know of anyone who might be interested, contact William Vanderbloemen directly at william@vanderbloemensearch.com, or upload your resume to our secure database here. All correspondence is held strictly confidential.
The Vanderbloemen Search Group is a retained executive search firm that helps churches find their key staff. Searches for large, fast growing churches with a focus on reaching the un-churched has become an area of particular expertise for our firm. Should your church need assistance in this sort of search, feel free to contact us.
We are pleased to announce the conclusion of a successful search for Willow Creek Community Church for the leader of their Willow Chicago campus. Willow Creek is one of the largest congregations in the United States, and has become internationally known as a pillar in the landscape of Christendom. The work in downtown Chicago is central to their mission in the coming years.
Greg Hawkins, Executive Pastor, Willow Creek
“This was the first time a search firm has been able to help us identify the right candidate for a senior leadership role. I am grateful to William for his partnership with Willow on this important search.” Greg Hawkins, Executive Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church.
Helping Willow find just the right person for this role was an honor and a unique challenge. Willow Chicago is located right in the middle of the city. The atmosphere is a highly unchurched, and many who live there are skeptical of organized religion. Ministry there requires a local knowledge, love for the city, and a unique approach. Navigating the urban, unusually diverse environment, working with city officials, locating space for events, and navigating the use of an historic theater are just a few of the myriad of complexities that required Willow to find a world class leader for the new leader of Willow Chicago. The Campus Pastor reports directly to Bill Hybels, and will work closely with Executive Pastor Greg Hawkins. Finding the person with the right leadership skills who also knows, understands, and can fit in and broadcast the Willow DNA was essential in the search.
When asked about the search process, Greg Hawkins said,
“William was very professional, listened carefully to what we were looking for and did a very thorough search. He surfaced several good candidates, one of which we hired to lead our downtown Chicago campus. This was the first time a search firm has been able to help us identify the right candidate for a senior leadership role. I am grateful to William for his partnership with Willow on this important search.” Greg Hawkins, Executive Pastor, Willow Creek
Jon Klinepeter, Campus Pastor, Willow Chicago
Jon Klinepeter has been selected as the new Campus Pastor of Willow Chicago, and begins his work this summer. Jon comes to Willow most recently from his ministry in Minneapolis at the Upper Room church. He has a deep love for and understanding of downtown Chicago, as well as a high degree of familiarity with the Willow DNA. And on top of all that, he’s just a class act. It’s been a pleasure getting to know him. We would encourage you to follow him and the important ministry Willow is doing in the middle of a global city. It’s unlike anything else they are doing, and Jon’s job is a big one. Pray for him and for Senior Pastor Bill Hybels as they work together to make an impact and launch a movement in the center of Chicago.
The pool of “executive search for church jokes” is pretty thin, but here’s a good read. It’s an oldie, but a goodie…..while circulated a lot, to our knowledge, the author is unknown.
——————————————————————————————————–
Search Committee Report:
The following is a confidential report on several candidates being considered for our new Pastor.
Adam: Good man but problems with his wife. Also one reference told of how his wife and he enjoy walking nude in the woods.
Noah: Former pastorate of 120 years with not even one convert. Prone to unrealistic building projects.
Abraham: Though the references reported wife-swapping, the facts seem to show he never slept with another man’s wife, but did offer to share his own wife with another man.
Joseph: A big thinker, but a braggart, believes in dream-interpreting, and has a prison record.
Moses: A modest and meek man, but poor communicator, even stuttering at times. Sometimes blows his stack and acts rashly. Some say he left an earlier church over a murder charge.
David: The most promising leader of all until we discovered the affair he had with his neighbor’s wife.
Solomon: Great preacher but our relocation costs for all his wives are out of our budget.
Elijah: Prone to depression. Collapses under pressure.
Elisha: Reported to have lived with a single widow while at his former church.
Hosea: A tender and loving pastor but our people could never handle his wife’s occupation.
Deborah: Strong leader and seems to be anointed, but she is female.
Jeremiah: Emotionally unstable, alarmist, negative, always lamenting things, reported to have taken a long trip to bury his underwear on the bank of a foreign river.
Isaiah: On the fringe? Claims to have seen angels in church. Has trouble with his language.
Jonah: Refused God’s call into ministry until he was forced to obey by getting swallowed up by a great fish. He told us the fish later spit him out on the shore near here. We hung up.
Amos: Too backward and unpolished. With some seminary training he might have promise, but has a hang-up against wealthy people–might fit in better in a poor congregation.
Melchizedek: Great credentials at current work place, but where does this guy come from? No information on his resume about former work records. Every line about parents was left blank and he refused to supply a birth date.
John: Says he is a Baptist, but definitely doesn’t dress like one. Has slept in the outdoors for months on end, has a weird diet, and provokes denominational leaders.
Peter: Too blue collar. Has a bad temper-even has been known to curse. Had a big run-in with Paul in Antioch. Aggressive, but a loose cannon.
Paul: Powerful CEO type leader and fascinating preacher. However, short on tact, unforgiving with younger ministers, harsh and has been known to preach all night.
James & John: Package deal preacher & associate seemed good at first, but found out they have an ego problem regarding other fellow workers and seating positions. Threatened an entire town after an insult. Also known to try to discourage workers who didn’t follow along with them.
Timothy: Too young!
Methuselah: Too old . . . WAY too old!
Jesus: Has had popular times, but once his church grew to 5000 he managed to offend them all, and then this church dwindled down to twelve people. Seldom stays in one place very long. And, of course, he’s single.
Judas: His references are solid. A steady plodder. Conservative. Good connections. Knows how to handle money. We’re inviting him to preach this Sunday. Possibilities here.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Isn’t it a good thing that God looks upon us differently than the world does?
One of the most frequent questions we get about our search process is, “How long will it take?”
What we are learning as a firm is that the really savvy churches and leaders are the ones that aren’t obsessed with speed of staffing, but quality. Thinking on this subject, we asked our Ministry Partner Tony Morgan for his thoughts. He says patience is required. Not just in the hiring, but also in getting a new leader going.
“I just want to save you all the frustration right now. I’ve experienced it a few times in my life. I’ve watched others confirm it in their lives.
It takes 12 months in any new job to figure out the role.
I’m talking about leadership roles here. If you are a widget-fabricator, maybe it’s different for you. For those of us that transition into new leadership positions, though, it always takes a full year to find out what we were really hired to do.
In those 12 months, we get to figure out what the unspoken expectations are. We have the opportunity to determine how our uniqueness fits into the unique organization that now provides our paycheck. We have the chance to see how we relate and work beside the people on our team. It takes 12 months. Until then, we aren’t really adding true value. We’re just trying to survive.
This is why finding the right people before you offer the job is so important. This is why finding the right employer before accepting the job is so important. This is why keeping the right people in your organization is so important. Every time the position opens, we lose 12 months.”
(This is just part of Tony’s reflections on this subject. To read the full post and lots of other good things Tony has to say, check out the full article and his site here).
We are pleased to announce that Liquid Church (New Jersey) has retained the Vanderbloemen Search Group to help identify their new Pastor of Spiritual Development.
Liquid Church is an incredible story. Born out of a Bible study, the church began as a mission to reach those who aren’t interested in church. And in New Jersey (just outside New York City), there are a whole lot of people who fit that bill.
In just four years, Liquid has grown to an average weekly attendance of over 1300, making it one of the largest churches in New Jersey. Under the leadership of Pastor Tim Lucas, the church has adopted a contemporary, mulit-site strategy. They now have two sites and an online campus. More sites and continued growth are both planned for and expected.
Liquid has created this new position in response to the influx of new members who need to continue the journey to spiritual maturity. The successful candidate will be able to design and implement effective spiritual growth initiatives through small groups and life classes.
If you want to do ministry in a region that is truly a mission field, work in a highly innovative, growing environment, with a creative energetic team, contact us for more information. Interested applicants can upload their resume to our secure site.
All correspondence is held in strict confidence.
The Vanderbloemen Search Group is a retained executive search firm that helps churches and ministries find their key staff. Searches for large, fast growing churches with a focus on reaching the un-churched has become an area of particular expertise for our firm. Should your church need assistance in this sort of search, feel free to contactus.
In golf, they say that you can never win a tournament on the first day of competition, but you sure can lose it. In baseball, they say that you can’t win in the first inning, but you sure can lose.
In interviewing, you probably won’t win a job because of your resume, but you sure can lose it.
Resumes are a doorway to the next step in a job search. No more, no less. The longer I review resumes, the more I see some common stumbling blocks that could easily be avoided.
Don’t try to make your resume look cool. Plain vanilla never hurt anyone in resume writing. I don’t need to see logos, four-color prints, or multiple pictures. I’ve never seen simple elegance lose in a resume. I have seen busy become bothersome.
List what you have done first. Too often, I see statements of “philosophy” or lists of spiritual gifts at the front of a resume. I suppose that’s a nice principle, but what I really want is a snapshot of what you have done at your previous jobs.
Don’t require me to be on the Internet to read your resume. There is a growing trend of listing resumes online, including vimeo channels, You Tube, and blogs on resumes. Cool bells and whistles for sure. But at the end of the day, simplicity wins in resumes. Links are good, but the requirement to be on line (like pointing me to a blog with your resume), limits circulation capacity.
Keep your file size down. Excessive file size in a resume (north of 2MB) is a real problem. They take forever to download, a long time to print (and a lot of ink), and end up being a real hassle. The last thing you want is for your first impression to be a hassle.
Don’t go on and on. One or two pages, maximum. We receive resumes from some really accomplished people. You would be surprised at how brief successful people are with their resume. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but it’s also the essence of effectiveness in resume writing. As one of my colleagues says, “Be brief. Be bright. Be gone.”
Don’t forget to spell check. You’d be surprised, but I really must list this one. A resume is a brief glimpse into your sense of professionalism. Sloppy spelling & grammar = sloppy work ethic.
