CHRIS BRAUNS: HOW TO PICK A PASTOR: Guidelines For Pastoral Search Committees

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MP3 Available Here

CHRIS BRAUNS, senior pastor at the Congregational Christian Church of Stillman Valley, IL, will address the theme of his doctoral thesis: "HOW TO PICK A PASTOR: Guidelines For Pastoral Search Committees".

Dr. Brauns describes his guidelines for Pastoral Search Committees this way:

"Arguably, the most strategic decision that a local church makes is calling a preaching pastor. When a local church calls a lead or senior pastor, they almost always want a pastor who will preach with excellence. Yet, often pastoral search committees do not know how to go about achieving that goal.

"Unfortunately, there are essentially no resources available designed to help pastoral search committees / pulpit nominating committees succeed in calling an excellent preaching pastor.

"Books and resources designed for pastoral search committees / pulpit nominating committees focus on areas other than preaching, and these areas are important. Yet preaching is the center of what their next pastor will do, and there is nothing available to help churches call a pastor who will preach with excellence...

"...The purpose of this thesis-project is to develop a manual to motivate and equip pastoral search committees to call a pastor who will preach expository sermons. The manual will target churches where a search committee either chooses a new pastor or makes a recommendation to the congregation. The manual will define expository preaching and attempt to persuade readers that it should be a central objective of their pastoral search to call an expository preacher. Having argued for expository preaching, the manual will seek to equip pulpit committees to evaluate sermons. It will first conceptually describe the process that a preacher must go through in order to preach an expository sermon. It will also provide and defend a sermon evaluation form that will equip pastoral search committees to evaluate sermons. This teaching will also equip a pastoral search committee to interview candidates about preaching..." (Read entire article here).

Dr. Brauns earned his MBA from Northern Iowa University, MDiv from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and DMin from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is the author of his recently published controversial book "UNPACKING FORGIVENESS: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds", and has studied and spoken extensively on the topic of forgiveness. You can hear a two-part "Iron Sharpens Iron" interview with Dr. Brauns on forgiveness by clicking Here (Part One) and clicking Here (Part Two).