By Lindsey Williams
Writing Specialist
John Pace, Director of Leadership Development, and Greg Barker, Bivocational Consultant, joined Tanner Cade, Director of Communication Services, and Jon Martin, Director of Men’s Ministries, on the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board’s (MBCB) “Around the Table” Podcast. They discussed the online Ministry Job Board and how the new process has aided MS Baptist pastor search committees and job-hunting ministers alike.
Pace explained the former process on the podcast: “We would have ministers, worship pastors, student ministers, children ministers, send us their resumes and we would keep them on file in the office. Then churches, when they had open ministry positions, could go online, fill out a form, and tell us what they were looking for.
“Open ministry positions would go to Greg, and Greg would sit there every day — he faithfully has done this for years — looking at those requests, looking at the available resumes we had, and we had probably around 700 resumes on file. Greg would fill in packets all the time and mail them to churches. This year though, we made the decision to go in a different direction and go with the ministry job board.
“One of the biggest problems we had with the resume service,” said Barker, “is that we had 800 resumes, but they wouldn’t update. So we were sending out resumes that were months old. (Now) they’re going to get a current, updated resume.
“Before, we would get calls from pastors all the time saying, ‘Hey, what’s out there? What’s available?’ We were more confidential, and we wouldn’t share (that information) with the pastors, but now they can look, and they can see exactly what’s out there and they can apply directly to that church. That’s a positive thing for sure.”
The new process allows churches to post open positions to the website, and pastors/ministers to prayerfully read through postings and directly send resumes to the churches to which the Spirit leads.
“One thing I noticed…,” Cade, who assisted the Leadership Department in the technical construction of the job board, commented on the podcast, “is just the personal touch that you have always had over this process, which I think is unique from state conventions, from what I hear across the SBC life, and that was a concern we had with moving to this new model of a job board.”
Barker described how he and Pace keep that personal touch intact: “When we receive the post from a church… and they’re wanting to be posted on our job board… immediately (we would) pick up the phone and call to say, ‘Hey, we got your post. It looks great. You’re doing a great job. We’re here for you if there is anything we can do.’ That’s what we do to try to touch base with each church.”
Barker continues to actively train pastor and minister search committees. By the end of the year, he will have done over one hundred in-person trainings.
In the beginning of the Ministry Job Board, the Leadership Department worried for churches of smaller congregations. “How many pastors are going to respond to that little church running 25? What are we going to do about that little bivocational church out in the middle of nowhere?” Barker asked. “So I picked up the phone and called them, ‘Got (the position) posted. How are you doing?’ And they said, ‘Man, we already got five resumes!’
“Gum Grove Baptist Church, a little small church down in Brookhaven, off of 84, just called a pastor from the job board. Actually, the guy who went there was at a larger church than Gum Grove, but he felt that God called him there. East Side and Belzoni, they’ve been looking for two years, and we sent them a hundred resumes and they’ve gone through those and never could find the right guy. But they recently called a guy from the job board and they’re all excited. We’re just hearing some great stories.”
An important reminder is that the job board is not only for pastors. Churches can post a variety of needed jobs: worship leaders, custodians, student ministers, media leaders, and more.
For churches seeking to submit a job, visit: Submit a Ministry Job Opening – Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (mbcb.org).
For pastors/ministers seeking a job, visit: Jobs Archive – Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (mbcb.org).
For the full “Around the Table” podcast with John Pace and Greg Barker, visit: Podcasts – Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (mbcb.org).
John Pace can be contacted at jpace@mbcb.org or 601-292-3308. Greg Barker can be contacted at gbarker@mbcb.org or 601-292-3307. Elizabeth Lindigrin, Ministry Assistant, can be reached at elindigrin@mbcb.org or 601-292-3305.
