I’ve had one marketplace job outside of ministry. For about a year after stepping away from the church we started, I worked as the manager of a truck accessory store. If trucks aren’t your thing, try to envision all the items that you could bolt onto or into a truck. That’s what we sold. And we sold a LOT of it. It was a sales-oriented business. The most valued people in a sales-oriented business are salespeople. Imagine a young man in his 30s who only has experience in ministry. He is now responsible for hiring and managing salespeople. I had the wisdom to ask, “How do I find them?” The store owner told me what he did. He went shopping. Huh? He explained, “Find a store with a similar product sales strategy and go shopping. When you find yourself talking to someone who’s making you want to buy something you weren’t even looking for – hand them your business card. If you’re looking to make a career move, we’ve got an opportunity for you to succeed.” Brilliant. The best way to find a salesperson is to find someone doing a great job of selling.
So how do you find new-church leaders? The best place to find a new-church leader is to find someone doing a great job of doing what? This is where the problem begins. We are not certain what a new-church leader does. What are they good at? Worse, we know what a pastor does. A pastor preaches. A pastor counsels. A pastor meets with committees. Pastors perform weddings and funerals. Pastors visit sick people and pray for them to get well. There is nothing wrong with any of those activities. They are all consistent with the role of a pastor. They also assume there is a congregation of people who need to be pastored. The role of a new-church leader is not to pastor a church but to create one where none exists. What do you do if there is no church – no people – who need or will benefit from any of those activities?
New-church leaders have a vision – they see something that no one else sees yet because it needs to be created. New-church leaders are gatherers – they get people excited about Jesus and introduce him to everyone they know. New-church leaders are motivators – they bring people together to give their best towards a shared goal. Above all, new-church leaders are disciple-makers – they introduce people to Jesus and help them become followers of Jesus’ way of life. The best way to find a new-church leader is to find someone doing those things right now. More than likely they are doing them in their community or marketplace not as a pastor in a church. That’s why you must look everywhere to find new-church leaders.
Look in the marketplace for people who have or are creating something new. It might be a business they started from scratch. It might be a product they developed at work. It might be a new region or territory they are opening for their company. Look in the community for leaders who are getting other people excited about Jesus. It might be the people in their neighborhood or the people they work with. It might be the people in their family. It might be the people they play softball with. Look in the church for people who are making disciples. It might be in a small group they lead. It might be in a volunteer team they lead. It might just be people they invite into intentional relationships.
The best way to find a new-church leader is to find someone doing a great job of gathering people and making disciples.