Today's Quote

The most important person in every community on earth is not the governor, the congressman, the senator or even the President. The most important person in every community is the local, Spirit-filled pastor. As goes the pastor, so goes the community.

COG Elects Council of Eighteen

The Council of Eighteen was elected during the Tuesday afternoon session of the General Council. The body of ministry leaders represents the General Council between Assembly periods meeting with the Executive Committee at least three times a year concerning church business, doctrine and polity.

Elected to serve for the 2010-2012 Assembly period were H. Loran Livingston, senior pastor of the Central Church of God in Charlotte, N.C., R. Lamar Vest, executive director of the American Bible Society, M. Thomas Propes, state overseer of the Church of God in South Carolina, Gary W. Sears, senior pastor of Mount Olive Ministries in Cleveland, Tenn., Mitchell Maloney, senior pastor of the North Cleveland Church of God, Donald M. Walker, state overseer for the north Georgia region of the Church of God, Tony Scott, senior pastor in Sylvania, Ohio, J. David Stephens, state overseer of Tennessee, Jerry F. Chitwood, state overseer of western North Carolina, Mark Walker, senior pastor at Mt. Paran North Church of God in Atlanta, John D. Childers, state overseer of Alabama, Ishmael Prince Charles, pastor in Tortola and overseer of the British Virgin Islands, Gerald McGinnis, senior pastor of Park West Church of God in Knoxville, Tenn., Nick Park, overseer of Ireland, David Muguia, president of SEMISUD in Quito, Ecuador, Daniel Vassell, regional overseer of western Canada, Mike Chapman, senior pastor of City Church of Chattanooga, Tenn., and J. Martin Taylor, state overseer of Florida.

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What Search Committees Are Looking for in a Pastor

Demonstrated competence and religious authenticity.

Search committees want pastors who have the ability to do the work required and a genuine religious life that brings together both "head and heart."

Good preacher and leader of worship.

Regional leaders and lay leaders differ regarding what constitutes good preaching. Lay leaders generally care less than judicatory officials whether the sermon reflects careful scholarship and organization and are concerned instead that it relates to their own life and engages them personally.

Strong spiritual leader.

Lay leaders want a pastor with a deep commitment to religious beliefs and an ability to inspire spirituality in others. But many judicatory executives regard this as problematic because of the difficulty of determining who will be a good spiritual leader for a particular congregation.

Commitment to parish ministry and ability to maintain boundaries.

Lay members and search committees generally expect their pastor to be primarily devoted to ministry and take minimal time for other pursuits. This criterion, Lummis suggests, is a key place where lay visions of ideal ministry run counter to current thinking among those who counsel clergy about the importance of maintaining boundaries and the need to find time for other interests.

Available, approachable, and warm pastor with good "people skills."

Regional leaders across denominations cited the pastor’s ability to show church members he or she likes and will care for them as an essential quality search committees try to find. This quality, however, can be situationally specific to the culture of a particular church or region.

Consensus builder, lay ministry coach and responsive leader.

Lay leaders want pastors who are responsive to their concerns, pastors who can initiate ideas to revitalize the church, while soliciting opinions of members and engaging them in putting ideas into operation.

Entrepreneurial evangelists, innovators and transformational reflexive leaders.

This area often presents a disconnect between what churches say they want and what they really want. Many say they want a pastor to help grow the church but don’t want to undertake or think about the necessary changes that will be required.

[from Revitalize Your Church by Mark O. Wilson]