Job Board

Position Title: Lead Pastor
Job Summary: The Lead Pastor is the Senior Pastor of the church. The Lead Pastor performs pastoral duties based on scripture and is responsible for the health, growth, and functionality of the church. The Lead Pastor is the primary teaching and preaching pastor to the congregation on Sundays and other occasions. He leads and oversees the entire ministry of the church, administering the ordinances of the church, caring for the spiritual welfare and pastoral care of the members and discipling and equipping lay people to serve in various ministries of the church. The Lead Pastor ensures accomplishment of the church’s Mission, Vision, Core Values, and Statement of Faith through ministry planning, decision making, and direction of pastoral and church staff.
Required Qualifications:
Education: Undergraduate degree and advanced Seminary degree.
Experience: Five years of full-time pastoral experience as Youth Pastor, Associate Pastor, Lead Pastor, or similar pastoral position. Other applicable ministry experience may be considered. Must demonstrate a record of leadership experience.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
• Able to preach and teach.
• Staff management, supervisory, and leadership skills
• Management skills
Other:
• Must meet qualifications as an Elder as described in the Grace Evangelical Free Church, Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, Article VII, Section 2, Paragraph 1. • Within the first 6 months, begin work with the EFCA Rocky Mountain District to obtain licensing, credentialing, and ordination within the Evangelical Free Church Association (EFCA).
Preferred/Desired Qualifications:
Education: Doctorate degree in Theology, Biblical Studies, Pastoral Theology, Ministry, or related area.
Experience: Six years experience as Lead Pastor.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
• Communication skills
• Organizational skills
• Problem solving skills
• Financial and budget management skills
• General knowledge of human resources policies and procedures
• Knowledge of church operations
• Computer literate
• Team building abilities
Other:
Demonstrates the following character pursuits:
• Humility: Seeks to be a humble man of godly character qualities
• Pursues God’s Heart – Has a demonstrated relationship with God and makes a priority his own personal quiet time of solitude and prayer life with God.
• A Godly Family Man – Loves his family and demonstrates this by prioritizing time with them, lovingly leading them, and sets a Godly example for them.
• Preaching – Possesses a passion for, and has a proven ability to preach engaging and applicable Bible based messages to an inter-generational crowd.
• Leads Leaders – Leads by coming along side, loving, and inspiring others to follow him. Proven ability as a godly leader.
• Proven Disciple Maker – Has a proven ability and passion to disciple others; both leaders and congregants.
• Spiritually/Emotionally Healthy: Lives life reaching and seeking to live his healthy true self.
• Good fit for Pagosa Springs – He (and his family) enjoys and understands small, mountain town community living and/or is willing to learn, accept, and adapt. • Heart for Family Ministry – Has a heart to grow families by championing strong
marriages, and casting vision and encouragement for raising up the next generation of Jesus lovers. A heart for young people and willing to value their perspective and shepherd their heart.
Functions, Duties, and Responsibilities:
Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, Article XI, Section 3, Duties of the Senior Pastor [Lead Pastor]
a. He shall perform all of the scriptural duties of this office [that is: perform duties based on scripture], and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, have freedom of the pulpit. These shall include leading and preaching at the stated services of the church, overseeing the
entire ministry of the church, administering the ordinances of the church, caring for the spiritual welfare of the members of the church and discipling and equipping lay people to serve in various ministries of the church.
b. He shall be a member of the Elder Team, and an ex-officio member of all ministry teams, committees, auxiliary bodies, and all other organizations of the church. c. He shall hire, fire and supervise all church staff in consultation with the Elder Team and as outlined in Article IX, section 1.
d. He shall not qualify for any elected office or appointed office on the Elder Team nor can he serve as the Church Moderator.
e. He shall also perform such other duties in connection with the work of the church as shall be delegated to and accepted by him.
f. He shall abide by the Word of God in his life, teaching and preaching, taking great care in all his conduct so as to be esteemed a man of respect in the congregation and community.
Other Functions, Duties, and Responsibilities
a. Abides by and applies the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. Ensures accomplishment of the church’s mission, vision, core values and culture development through ministry planning, decision making, and direction of pastoral and church staff.
b. The Lead Pastor is responsible to shepherd the spiritual growth of the people attending Grace in Pagosa.
c. The Lead Pastor is a disciple maker. He is the champion and model of authentic discipleship and relational evangelism – encouraging a spirit of discipleship church-wide. The goal of which is to lead others into deeper relationships with God and to encourage them on a path of discipleship.
d. Lead, support, and coach the pastoral, ministerial, and administrative staff. Lead the pastoral and ministerial staff, including volunteer leaders, in the establishment and ongoing direction of ministries that effectively reach the church’s demographic, in accordance with the mission, vision, core values and statement of faith. Act as instructor, coach, and care partner to the pastoral staff and ministry leaders. Additionally, the Lead Pastor sets a spiritual tone for the staff to follow, cultivates healthy relationships within the staff, sets vision and culture for the staff as a whole, provides direction and assistance for each staff member, encourages professional development and proficiency, and provides edification and accountability.
e. Conduct coordinated, organized, and well managed staff meetings, which includes teambuilding, transfer of vision, reporting, coordination, and decision making. Empower and equip the staff by understanding individual and team strengths and weaknesses. Develops and distributes a staff meeting agenda before each meeting and ensures detailed minutes are published, distributed, and filed.
f. The Lead Pastor provides annual, written evaluations for staff members that report to him, as specified in the Grace in Pagosa Employee Manual.
g. The Lead Pastor is the primary preaching and teaching pastor to the congregation on Sundays and other occasions. In consultation with the pastoral staff, he sets the
preaching tone, vision, topics, and schedule; ensuring what is preached aligns with our core Biblical doctrines, vision, core values, statement of faith, and need of the church body. The Lead Pastor arranges for substitute preachers on the occasions he does not preach. On Sundays that he is not preaching, but available, he may still participate by
offering a prayer, welcome, offering devotional, benediction, organize a testimony, and in many ways, still be the spiritual face of Grace in Pagosa Church. The Lead Pastor encourages, coaches, and provides supervised opportunities for other Grace in Pagosa Pastors to preach (to a limited extent) and grow their preaching abilities and experience.
h. Pastoral Care responsibilities include the following: discipleship, building relationships, premarital counseling, marital counseling, weddings, baptisms, home visitation, hospital visitation, and funeral service coordination. The Lead Pastor will provide short-term Biblical counseling – making referrals to other trained and qualified counselors as needed. Though overall responsible, the Lead Pastor will share these duties among the pastoral staff.
i. Ensure Life Teams are established, encouraged, and supported as the foundation of support, communication and connection for the church and community. Appoint a pastor-in-charge of Life Teams and provide supervision.
j. In conjunction with the Elder Team the Lead Pastor encourages and guides the Deacon Team (if applicable) in their acts of service within Grace in Pagosa Church and Pagosa Springs community.
k. Ensure the operational readiness of the church through leadership, management, and oversight. This includes development and maintenance of the GIP church culture, which is described as the prevalent attitude and atmosphere in which the church functions.
l. Assist the Elder Team in the development, maintenance, and application of the Grace in Pagosa Church Manual and Employee Handbook, which includes job descriptions, policies, and all pertinent information and instructions for effective and efficient day-to day operation of the church.
m. Assist the Elder Team in the development, maintenance, and application of the annual requirements and event calendar and timeline.
n. Work with and support the Finance Team.
o. Act as Grace in Pagosa Church representative and liaison with other churches and community organizations (i.e. Community–wide pastor and ministry leader meetings and events; community-wide board of churches; and non-church entities who reach out to our community).
Other Duties and Responsibilities: Other duties as assigned by the Elder Team. This job description is not a comprehensive listing of activities or responsibilities. Duties and responsibilities may change without prior notice.
Accountability:
a. Accountable to the whole body of Grace in Pagosa through the Elders whom the church has appointed. The Lead Pastor reports to the Elder Team.
b. This is a full-time, 40 hours per week position, unless otherwise specified in the employee contract. Additional hours may be required without additional compensation. c. Normal workdays are Sunday through Thursday. Normal days off are Friday and Saturday. Office hours are required during the normal workweek (to be determined). d. Paid time off and unpaid time off are afforded and documented according to the Grace in Pagosa Employee Handbook.
e. Read, understand, and adhere to the policies and procedures in the Employee Handbook. f. Participate in semi-annual check-in meetings to discuss issues surrounding the Lead Pastor or Elders that may not have been covered during regular elder meetings or that the Lead Pastor would like to discuss with the elder team. The Grace in Pagosa Elders commit to working and coming alongside the Lead Pastor to support, encourage, and prayerfully protect and support him.
g. Attend monthly Healthy Church Network meetings. These are regularly scheduled meetings with our Rocky Mountain District (RMD) Superintendent, and other pastors in the Southwest area of the RMD. The purpose of these meetings is mentoring, accountability, training & support. There are also 2 annual RMD Conferences as well as an annual Evangelical Free Church Association (EFCA) Conference. Grace in Pagosa currently supports, is a member in good standing, and plans to continue to support the EFCA.
h. Functions, duties, and responsibilities in this job description may not be delegated without approval of the Elder Team.
Compensation: Salary, compensation, and benefits are determined by established policies and guidelines, and based on qualifications, skills, abilities and experience.