6 Guidelines for Executive Pastors
Informative post from Pastor Jamie Munson, Lead Pastor of Mars Hill Church ~ Seattle. A former pastor was the first person that ever thought I could make a good executive pastor. I’ve thought about it many times since, but I feel more called to leading a congregation by preaching and teaching.
- Know your calling – First and foremost, you’re called to be a Christian who worships Jesus. Second, you’re called to lead your wife and kids. After that, comes your broader ministry. If for you that means “executive pastor,” then you need to ask yourself: Are you content with being a behind the scenes guy?
- Fear and respect – You must fear God and respect the Lead Pastor. Don’t mix that up, and if you do, repent. 1 Timothy 5 and 6 lay out a very concrete explanation of the distinction between who is to be feared and who is to be respected.
- Mutual understanding – There is no cookiecutter job description for either role; it depends on the gifts and talents of each man. You have to know one another’s strengths and weaknesses—what you’re good at, and what he’s good at. This understanding requires a real friendship, mutual respect, trial and error, and good communication.
- Key relationships – All too often, the lead pastor is the relational glue between lots of people. The elders, board, staff, deacons, community leaders, and key donors all depend on their relationship with the lead pastor to move things forward, design new ministry, solve problems, make decisions and stay committed 100% to the ministry of the church (I don’t really understand that sentence…are you saying it’s a good thing, a bad thing, or simply how it is?). That is a lot of pressure and responsibility, and the lead pastor needs help. Not just administrative help, but leadership help. The executive pastor must provide relational leadership so that the lead pastor is not the sole hub to which every spoke is connected.
- Project management – This varies from man to man, but most lead pastors I know hate project management and administration. They like communication, they like knowledge of what’s going on, but the ins and outs of every detail suck the life out of them. To make project management successful, you must take on and capture every detail you can, and build a team around you to help.
- Different hats – The relationship between the lead pastor and executive pastor is complicated and muddy, but also life-giving, if properly understood. The relationship is mult-dimensional, and understanding what hat to where when is vital.