hiring?

I’ve written on firing several times lately. Naturally, if you fire someone you are going to hire someone to replace the guy - hence a post of tips today on hiring:

1. The first rule (of course after bathing this thing in prayer) is to determine you are going to do your work well. AND to be done right it will require some hard work. Yeah, I know some people believe that any Christian man should be able to work with any congregation - and there are also people who believe the lunar landing was a hoax!! Determine to work to find the person who is a good fit and match with your congregation. Determine to make contact with every person who contacts you...trust me, it won’t be that hard. Call, listen to sermons, do a phone interview. And then...pray once more. Like the reality or not who you hire will be major in determining your future!!! Even if he comes for a year and leaves it will affect the church in major ways.

2. Communicate, communicate, communicate: Determine at the start of this process that “we are going to communicate”. If you get a resume, acknowledge it. If you exclude a candidate let him know. If a guy is still “in the hunt” communicate that to him at LEAST once every three weeks. If you tell a guy you’ll call him, call him. And the same with the church - keep them posted on where you are. People do not like walking into dark rooms, turn the lights on!

3. Major deal here: DON’T dare bring someone in and let them preach unless you are sure you can work with him! I know he’s Sister Jerba’s brother’s son’s neighbor and she says he’s great - don’t do it. You have a mission. I heard of one church that did something like that and the church fell in love with the guy so when the elders sat down with him they were $20,000.00 off from what he was making and wasn’t looking to move for less money. The church got mad cause the elders didn’t hire the guy they most wanted. It’d be like test driving a Corvette when all you can afford is a Yugo (google it). If he is not a guy you can respect and who will respect you don’t bring him in. Here’s what I’d suggest: Talk to everyone you can, narrow it down to two guys (or three at most) who the elders KNOW they can work with, THEN bring both those guys in for two Sunday’s (one Sunday assign them the same text or topic and the other let them pick the one they want) and let the church vote on which they want. That way the church gets a big hand in it but you know he’s someone you can work with. Maybe another note with this one - I’m not a fan of search committees. I know it involves everyone, blah, blah, blah. But if you as an eldership are so out of touch with the members that you don’t know the churches needs or are so mistrusted by the members that they won’t accept your leadership - RESIGN! Listen, you’ll set his salary, you’ll write his job description, you’ll call him in when he needs to be disciplined, you’ll be the ones to fire him if it comes to that - you should be the one who hires him! Seek all the input you can but, I’m a powerhouse believer in involvement but ultimately if the you aren’t willing for the buck to stop with you then get out! (OK, I’ll step down off my soapbox now).

4. Check references: Duh. Yeah, I know he seems nice, who doesn’t behave well on a date? A couple of notes on the references. Discount one bad reference! Most of us have at least one elder who would give us a negative review. It may say more about the person you are checking with than the candidate. If someone it very quick to criticize that should probably tell you something. I know some churches that won’t hire a guy cause he has been fired - I’ve been told that every preacher is fired at least once - check the references, ask questions, listen.

5. Find the qualities and skills the church needs: I’ve noticed that most churches just hire guys who are strong in the areas where the previous guy was weak. I understand that. That is where you got the most criticism from members, the area where the preacher was weak. But what if the areas where he was strong were key to something important. I’m not nearly as good at visiting people who are shut-in as I need to be. It’s been a struggle all my ministry to do that well. I know the importance of it for some. I worked with a church once where the previous preacher was GREAT at that but I was stronger in some areas where he looked weak. It was a struggle a real struggle. I often wondered if the elders wished they’d checked that out before they hired me.

6. Find out how the guy handles the positions he holds: Yes, I know the doctrines he holds are important, but you will not be able to discuss every issue that might come up or become a problem in the future. And, God forbid that you come up with one of those credal sheets that tries to (sorry, forgive me for that one-it slipped out before I could pull it back in). What you need to know is, how does he deal with it when he doesn’t get his way, how does he handle it if his position and the elders are different, what does he do with disagreements? So what if you line up on 99% of “the issues” if he burns the building down or splits the church on the 1% he sees different he is not your man. Trust me on that.

I could go on and on with this post but will end now and imagine the comments will make up for what I’ve left off. God bless you.