Auxilium Network

Misconceptions About Who Picks the Pastor

auxiliumnetwork — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:03:07 +0000

One objection that pops up from time to time is that a church “wants to choose its own pastor, NOT have someone else choose for them.” We often wonder, “Is this a Calvinism vs. Arminianism question?” That whole choice thing, you know.

What we quickly come to realize is that some people think that Auxilium acts like a placement or headhunting firm in the business world, wherein we actually choose the pastor for a church. That is not what we do, nor could we do it under the Book of Church Order of the PCA and rules of government for other Reformed evangelicals.

What Auxilium does is act as the “doulos,” or servant of the Search or Pulpit Committee. We help them assess what they need to be looking for in a pastor in terms of gifts, calling, strengths, weaknesses, abilities and experience. We then help the Committee post the job opening and receive all the submissions from prospective candidates. This is where we provide the most help, in that most Committees struggle with knowing what they are looking at when they look at a Ministerial Data Form or a jam-packed resume. We do know what we are looking at from years of experience as pastors and working with Auxilium.

We filter all the candidates down to the most likely 6-8, strictly according to the guidelines arrived at by the Committee, then set up a series of online video interviews between Committee and candidate. The Committee then chooses its favorite candidates based on information received and the video interview, and Auxilium works swiftly but surely to clarify who the top 2-3 candidates are, do background checks, listen to sermons, interview the candidates repeatedly, call references, etc. During this time, we stay in close contact with the Committee, letting them know our findings and hearing how they would like us to proceed. Finally, the Committee chooses who its top candidate is, and we help them arrange any travel, face-to-face interviews, culminating in the candidating visit to the church.

So, our role as “doulos” is to make life as easy as possible for the Committee, by doing all the difficult work for them. We work faster and more thoroughly than most Committees because we do this all the time.

Misconceptions About Affordability

auxiliumnetwork — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:48:51 +0000

People ask us all the time, “How in a recession like this can churches afford your assistance?” Our response usually is something along the expected line of “How can they afford NOT to use us?” The interesting thing is that when we explain what we mean, and illustrate it with costs, they always agree.

Here is how we do it…a church that is looking for a pastor is, generally speaking, not paying a pastor at that moment. The great little secret is that most churches are saving money while between pastors, at least at first. Later, when the interim between pastors becomes so long that vision shrivels and attendance drops off, savings begin to disappear. Add to that the ongoing costs of Stated Supply in paying for travel, lodging and an honorarium, and savings begin to dwindle in a hurry. That is where Auxilium can help.

Auxilium can do a thorough pastoral search for about 1 month’s salary and housing of the previous pastor. In turn, Auxilium can cut search times in half, where advisable. Simple logic says that if a church normally takes 9 months to one year to find a pastor, and Auxilium can do that same search in 5-6 months, at a charge of only one month’s salary and housing, the church comes out ahead by having its next pastor on board, not having to pay all the costs associated with Stated Supply, and without the withering of vision and giving decline that comes along with it.

Auxilium is dedicated to helping churches realize these savings and remain robust in their vision and attendance all by having a logical, pain-free search process. Auxilium does all the “heavy lifting” in the search process, at the direction of the Search Committee. You simply choose your pastor.

Help for the Weary Search Committee

auxiliumnetwork — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:09:49 +0000

Check out this post titled “Considering Helping Search Committees” written by Steve Cavallaro. He was very gracious in endorsing our services. He talks about two of the main reasons search committees have trouble. One, they just don’t have the time to efficiently handle the massive amounts of materials that are received from applicants. When you consider that you can have as many as 100 applicants for a position, and that most will all be sending resumes, MDFs, references, and other bio information, it is a daunting task to try and wade through that information in any efficient time-frame. And two, in many cases committee members do not have any experience in the process. For many it will be the first and only time they may ever be a part of the search process. Both of these issues tempt a search committee to not do their due diligence in reviewing and investigating all that they have received. Corners end up being cut and steps get bypassed just so the search process can be concluded.

The good news is there is a solution. Auxilium Network has the ability to efficiently sort through the massive amounts of information with experienced eyes, working at it 24/6 to get the committee to the place where they can call their next pastor in as swift a time-frame as they desire, without the headaches, delays, and confusion.

Check out Steve’s post. If you have any questions contact us. We’d be happy to spend some time explaining what we can do to help.

Testimonial from Christ Community Church, ARP

auxiliumnetwork — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:56:53 +0000

The following testimonial is from pastor Bill Marsh at Christ Community Church (ARP) in Greensboro, NC.