There are worse things than not having a pastor, and few things more important than selecting the right shepherd. There is no “magic bullet” for the call process, but starting the process with some theological and practical wisdom will make that process more likely to succeed.

Of all the decisions a congregation makes, no decision more directly impacts the congregation, the families in it, and the community around it, than the pastoral search process. How to Find the Right Pastor is a concise, focused reference guide to the pastoral search process– a guide that will help countless souls by helping to connect the right person to the right position in the right congregation at the right time and for the right reasons.

Most members of pastoral search committees have little experience in the area, as pastoral transitions are (ideally) few and far between. How to Find the Right Pastor provides an orientation to best practices, avoiding the dual traps of over-spiritualizing and over-reliance on human wisdom.

Readers will benefit from practical wisdom (pastoral job descriptions, compensation packages, the importance of an interim pastor), legal guidance (background checks, financial considerations, adherence to the congregation’s governing documents), and spiritual wisdom (the importance of prayer, doctrinal distinctives, and multi-generational composition of the search committee).

The authors of How to Find the Right Pastor wrote from a particular doctrinal and political (referring to church “polity”) position, but took great pains to make the book broadly applicable. Readers will be able to use much of the book “as is” regardless of their congregational or denominational setting, and
other chapters will be of use with a small amount of contextualization.

Read this book now, put it on your shelf, and remember where it is the next time you enter into a call process or have someone ask you for advice. The authors of How to Find the Right Pastor have given a gift to Christ’s church.