Eldership and Preachers

From time to time for various reasons Elders are going to need to find a Preacher to serve the congregation. Elders should not be caught by surprise by this and have to scramble around at the last minute to trying to find someone. Elders should develop a list of Preacher prospects and develop a relationship with those Preachers.

I had a Preacher tell me that he got plenty of offers but invariably declined because he was not familiar with a particular congregation. So its not just developing a wish list of Preachers its also about investing in a relationship.

Since I have been at Parkway we have had six men preach for the congregation. The longest one was here for thirty years.

Many years ago when I was a Deacon and the Elders were looking for a man an Elder told me… “Rob, we don’t want to look for a guy that is looking for a position… we want to find a guy that is doing a good job somewhere and make a run at him”.

Also an Elder told me years ago that you don’t want a guy that stays with a congregation for a few years and then moves on. The same Elder told me that we should take a look at all the congregations where the man has formerly preached to see how they were doing. Were the congregations growing or declining?

At Parkway we have in the past brought in younger Preachers to preach three lessons on a Sunday. They didn’t know it but they were interviewing for a future job. In fact anytime we have a Gospel Meeting its like a secret job interview. That’s one way to develop a prospective list of Preacher candidates.

FYI, there are no perfect Elders and there are no perfect Preachers either. There is such a thing in baseball as a “Five Tool Player”… hitting for average, hitting for power, base running speed, throwing arm strength and fielding ability.

Generally a “Five Tool Preacher’ is good in the pulpit, good in classroom settings, is hospitable and is good at personal work. Those guys are as rare as hen’s teeth. If you have one hold onto him.

A Preacher told me once that a lot of times a Preacher will move to another congregation because that’s the only way a Preacher can get a raise. So often times, if Elders are not taking care of their talent the talent will move on. The Elders helped create the problem through neglect.

I also had a Preacher tell me that most Preachers he knew were on some kind of psychological medication… like maybe they couldn’t live up to the congregations expectations and were continually criticized with little positive reinforcement and it had an effect.

When the congregation selects Elders they by commandment have to look at the behavior of the Elder candidate’s family… do they respect his headship, etc. Makes sense to apply that rule when considering a Preacher as well.

Elders most important work is the local congregation and the Preacher position is vitally important to the health of a congregation. Let’s not take that lightly and lets not shoot ourselves in the foot by neglecting out current Preachers and lets also be prepared and not get caught short when it comes time to find a new preacher.