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Several years ago I was asked to assist a congregation in Florida find their next pastor. I was curious as to why a good friend and fellow pastor, now retired, was the one who called. He recounted to me the heartbreaking story of the painful split that occurred in the church six months prior to his calling me. The leadership of the church had wisely asked him to become their Interim Pastor. This story illustrates one of two primary circumstances under which a congregation needs an Interim Pastor. The deep division in the church had resulted in lots of member being [...]

A Search Committee is inclined to move too fast! Once elected, the mood is to quickly begin to set the criteria, write the job description, identify candidates, listen to sermons, and then set up meetings with the best prospects. Big mistake! Lots of things need to happen before the Committee begins to identify prospects and evaluate them. It may sound like frivolous things, but the very first thing that should happen has to do with the internal life of the Committee itself. There needs to be organization. The Committee needs to choose its chair, co-chair (or vice chair), secretary, and appoint [...]

A member of a congregation that had engaged McGowan Search to assist their Search Committee confronted me in the parking lot of the church with a question. He asked, “How can you justify what you are doing in light of the Biblical teaching that God alone is the one who will call the one who is to be the next pastor of our church?” While I was initially caught off guard and was inclined to be a bit defensive, I quickly recovered and we had a good conversation about how God uses often means (such as a search consultant or an [...]

The local newspaper in the city in which I live ran a feature article several weeks ago concerning a local, well-known pastor. About 10 years ago he planted a church in our city that quickly became very popular and grew rapidly. Within a matter of a few years the church embraced a strategy for growth that would establish additional congregations in various sections of the city. By the time the article was published the church consisted of a large “mother” congregation and five additional congregations scattered throughout the city. It had become a rather large church that attracted several thousand people [...]