When hiring a Campus Pastor, don't make the mistake of hiring the wrong internal candidate. Instead, match the unique needs of the campus with the specific gifts and skills of the pastor.
No two congregations are alike. Each one has its own unique history, culture and even its own quirks. Some of the churches where I served on staff in the Southern US would never survive in my native state of California (and vice versa) because what makes a church successful in one place is very different from another. In the same way that not all congregations are alike, not all Campus Pastors are alike. It’s critical to match your church’s unique multisite model with a unique Campus Pastor profile.
Multisite churches exist on a spectrum with strong conformity or alignment on one end and strong autonomy or freedom on the other. Churches with high conformity could have Campus Pastors that are essentially interchangeable because the qualities and skills needed for success are similar at every campus. But the more autonomy included in the multisite model, the more variations there will be from one campus to another. In that scenario, intentionally matching the Campus Pastor to the right the campus becomes even more critical.
With all those variables, it may seem that you're more likely to find a unicorn than to find a Campus Pastor that fits your needs. Since there’s so much riding on the decision to hire a Campus Pastor, it’s worth the effort and energy to get it right!
Who Is The Ideal Campus Pastor?
The actual job description of a Campus Pastor can and should change as the campus develops. Even so, there are some qualities and characteristics that are non-negotiable. Here it is less about what he does but how he does it. The ideal Campus Pastor should:
Embody the mission, vision and values of the church at large.
Be both called and content to submit to church leadership rather than try to create a separate following.
Be able to translate vision and contextualize ministry at the campus level without inserting any personal agenda.
Demonstrate a passion to identify and develop leaders, both paid and unpaid.
Find joy in giving ministry away to others rather than becoming indispensable by hoarding it.
Ideally be representative of the demographic (such as age, life stage, ethnicity, etc) of that campus.
The actual job description of a Campus Pastor can and should change as the campus develops. Even so, there are some qualities and characteristics that are non-negotiable.
What If We Have An Internal Candidate?
By far the best scenario is to find your next Campus Pastor from within your existing staff because this allows you to select someone with a proven track record and who already knows the church’s existing mission, values and culture. However, just because someone on your team expresses interest in the role doesn’t mean they are always the right fit. When churches hire the wrong internal candidate, it’s not uncommon for them to mistakenly choose one of these three people:
The Most Likely - The person on the team who most closely resembles a future Lead Pastor might be the most obvious choice to serve as Campus Pastor. After all, that person likely has all the leadership and pastoral gifts you’re looking for. But over time, this future Lead Pastor could begin to feel limited by the boundaries and restrictions placed on him at the campus level. Of course there are exceptions to this but an unexpected reality of multisite ministry is that the best Campus Pastors don’t always make the best Lead Pastors. What makes someone successful in one role does not always translate to the other. This is especially true if your multisite model has video preaching with a high degree of conformity and alignment. Someone with a passion to cast vision and preach may not last long as a Campus Pastor in a video preaching model where those functions are done primarily by the Lead Pastor. This is obviously less of an issue if your model includes live preaching and high campus autonomy. This person may be the “next in line” to be a Lead Pastor but not necessarily the best fit for Campus Pastor.
The Most Senior - The person on the team who is the most seasoned or who has the longest tenure is not necessarily the right choice for Campus Pastor. This person may be an excellent representative of your church’s mission, vision and values. Odds are that he or she is deeply respected by the rest of the staff and has the implicit trust of all levels of church leadership. Is there a reason they have been at your church so long? Maybe they stayed because they don’t feel called to anything else. Maybe this person has stayed because they don’t like taking risks or making bold career moves. If so, they may lack the unique leadership drive that a Campus Pastor role requires. When evaluating an internal candidate, their skills, gifts, passions and calling should all be taken into account as well. This person may be the “safe choice” but not necessarily the best fit for Campus Pastor.
The Most Eager - Any church that is dynamic and growing is likely filled with at least a few up-and-coming staff members who are equally dynamic and eager to grow. One of those people may come to you eager to learn and hungry for an opportunity to lead the next campus launch. As promising as that situation sounds, don't confuse being eager with being unsettled. Just because your Student Ministry Pastor is tired of throwing t-shirts off a stage at summer camp doesn’t mean he is your next Campus Pastor. With the arrival of Millennials and Gen Z into the ranks of vocational ministry, we're in the midst of a shift in how people view their own sense of calling. Unlike the generations that came before them, they feel less connected the church as an institution (and less connected to institutions in general) and so their concept of a call to vocational ministry is more fluid. This means they may frequently move from one ministry role to another or even move in and out of ministry altogether, building their own skills and learning as they go but with less consideration for longevity in one place or position. Without overgeneralizing about an entire generation of people, the point is that an unsettled, short term mindset will make it hard to truly invest in the life of a congregation which is what any successful Campus Pastor must do over the long term. Their interest may be less about the role itself and more about wanting to do something different. That’s why as part of the interview process it’s important to clarify a sense of calling to that unique and specific role. This person may be the “most eager” but not necessarily the best fit for Campus Pastor.
When hiring a Campus Pastor from the inside, don't make the mistake of hiring any of these three people: the most likely person, the most senior person or the most eager person.
Do The Needs Of The Campus Match The Gifts Of The Campus Pastor?
A Campus Pastor is entrusted with a tremendous responsibility to faithfully carry out the mission of the church, to shepherd a congregation towards spiritual health and to steward both staff and budget resources with integrity. All of this happens at a remote location with reduced oversight and supervision. Regardless of the amount of campus autonomy that is permitted, the conditions on the ground at that campus should dictate some qualifications and characteristics of the candidate you‘re searching for. Hiring someone to help launch a new campus is not quite the same as hiring to lead an established campus. These are two organizations at different developmental stages. Here are three examples (there are plenty more) of different types of Campus Pastors to consider depending on the status of your campus:
Starter - Launching a new campus is both exciting and exhausting at the same time. For the right Campus Pastor, there are few things more rewarding than watching God bring together a unique group of people who all feel called to venture together into the unknown. Like a missionary or church planter, they are wired for adventure. In fact, they may enjoy the journey more than the destination. They are great a pioneering something new and inspiring people to go along with them but after the frenetic pace of the launch phase gives way to a more sustainable pace in later years, they sometimes lose interest. If so, they become increasingly disengaged in day-to-day ministry as they start dreaming about new frontiers just out of sight over the horizon. This type of Campus Pastor is ideal for starting a new campus from the ground up.
Shepherd - Not all pastors are good at shepherding. (Surprise!) It requires a certain type of intuition that understands what motivates people to do what they do, particularly when it comes to spiritual matters. That gift of discernment allows the pastor to provide the exact kind of spiritual leadership that the situation requires. A shepherd can offer that well-timed word of spiritual insight that helps the congregation heal but also that firm word of encouragement that helps them move forward towards spiritual growth and health. A shepherding type leader is especially ideal for church merger situations where the congregation has often been beaten up by a previous pastor or beaten down by discouragement of a church in decline. They need someone who will help them grieve the loss of that beloved church that no longer exists and then lead them forward through the change and renewal that is required for any church merger to be successful. This type of Campus Pastor is ideal for a congregation in the midst of transition and change.
Sustainer - In the rough-and-tumble process of starting a campus, it's inevitable that there will be setbacks and disappointments. You can't sustain the pace of that first year or two because the adrenaline eventually wears off and fatigue starts to set in. The leaders who have always been the first to arrive and last to leave every Sunday will now begin pulling back on their time commitment. It's not uncommon at this point for the campus to even lose some key leaders. Some will go back to the previous campus they were sent from, others may just fade away. When the ministries start showing these signs of fatigue, this isn't necessarily a warning sign that the campus is in trouble. Instead, the campus is likely entering into a new stage of development. It's critical that the Campus Pastor expand the circle of key leaders and begin to build a more sustainable ministry model that engages more people in leading and serving. This phase requires a leader who can read the moment and then lead accordingly, speeding up or slowing down at a rate the congregation can sustain. Now the primarily goal of the Campus Pastor is to begin doing ministry in a sustainable way, building teams and creating healthy systems that will scale as the campus grows. This type of Campus Pastor is deal for a congregation that is ready to put down deeper roots and develop ministries designed for long term health and growth.
I'm not necessarily picturing three different Campus Pastors here. If a Campus Pastor is going to remain in that role more than a few years, he should be able to do some of this interchangeably. Any leader must grow and adapt along with the changing needs of the organization. (You can read more here about how a your leadership should adapt and change along with the organization.) Even so, not everyone is gifted in the same way. You should understand the unique needs of the campus in the stage of life cycle it is in and include that in the profile of the Campus Pastor you're looking to hire. I’ve witnessed it time and again that when the church has a clear picture of who they are looking for, God is faithful to provide the right person to fill the role. Take heart: unicorns do exist!
How does your church go about finding the ideal Campus Pastor? I would love to hear what you're learning. Send a quick note to me at mv@michaelvolbeda.com.
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