Tag Archives: church

New Appointment: My Most Common Response

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An occurrence that is becoming more and more common as the weeks go on is people congratulating me on my new appointment. There are a myriad factors that are playing in to this transition. While there is a lot going on for our family, I simply try to recognize both the opportunities and challenges in this transition in a few short sentences. This usually ends up being an appropriate length in the conversation. Here is what I find myself sharing most often, “I am excited about the opportunities to get to know the church and community in El Dorado. There will be a loss of leaving Resurrection and the Kansas City area. It is going to be really good.”

What else might be helpful to share?

Questions for a Congregation from a Newly Appointed Pastor in the #UMC

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Question mark (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am preparing to transition to a new appointment beginning July 1. One of the things that I have learned from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership is that good leaders ask the right questions. I have been working on a list of questions that I believe will be helpful in getting started well at First United Methodist Church in El Dorado.

Ministries

  • How is the church engaging the community?
  • What can you tell me about the United Methodist Men?
  • What can you tell me about the United Methodist Women?
  • How would the church say that they have grown in the past year?
  • What is going on during the week?
  • What is the congregation’s favorite way of learning? Teaching, book study, etc.
Congregation
  • How are people growing in their faith outside of worship?
  • Who are the key influencers in the congregation?
  • Who are the people / families that will do whatever it takes at the church?
  • Who might peer churches be for support, encouragement and benchmarking?
  • Who are the staff and leaders that are great Bible study / small group leaders?
Mission and Vision
  • In what ways do the vision and purpose guide what the church does?
  • How are the vision and purpose communicated to the staff and congregation?
  • What is the vision and purpose of the church?
Facility
  • For the facility, what needs regular maintenance?
  • For the facility, what needs to be repaired?
  • For the facility, what needs to be replaced?
  • What is the state of the facility?
Pastor’s Role
  • How might can I best serve the church?
  • What are some ways to get congregational buy in?
  • What are some ideas for “quick wins” that might be possible?
  • What are things that I might do that have never been done before?
  • What facts or realities about me or my ministry can I share that might be helpful for the congregation?
  • What are the die hard principles or practices that if I change them will get me tarred and feathered?
Connection
  • What efforts exist to close the back door? (Keep people engaged who might otherwise leave)
  • What are the biggest barriers to people coming in the door?
  • What is being done to bring in new members?
  • What kind of follow up for first time visitors happens?
  • What new networks of people can I engage and develop?
Finance
  • How does the budget break out between compensation, operations, mission and ministry?
  • Is the budget growing?
  • Is the church paying its apportionments in full?
Community
  • Where do people gather for coffee or breakfast in town?
  • What opportunities for mission in the community exist?

What other questions would you add to this list?

What I Learned at Lutheran Church of Hope

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Yesterday, I traveled with the senior staff from Resurrection to the Lutheran Church of Hope. It was an opportunity to benchmark another church and have conversation about how ministry happens in their setting. I have had the opportunity to take part in several of these trips during my time at Resurrection to visit other congregations both larger and smaller than Resurrection. The bus ride is always a great opportunity to connect with fellow staff members and it was a great time touring Hope’s West Des Moine location and spending time in conversation with some of their staff. Here is some of what I learned:

  • Mission, vision and values are what holds true across all of their campuses
  • Senior pastor provides a worship plan six months in advance with the series, sermon title, scripture passage and a sentence or two about direction for the sermon
  • Rooms all have numbers. No ministry area has claim to a particular room.
  • A culture of trust in leadership has been developed that has proven beneficial over time.
  • If you can’t give cheerfully, we don’t want you to give. Giving will bring you freedom.
  • Success looks different in different contexts
  • Bigger or smaller isn’t better, better is better.
  • Who are the people that no one else is going after?

Being in transition to serving as lead pastor at El Dorado First United Methodist Church, I also had some personal reflections:

  • Touring the buildings of other churches is not worth much. There are little things that can be picked up about facilities, but overall the building that the church has is what it will be. The building at El Dorado First seems to have been kept up well and is an asset for ministry.
  • There was a sense of camaraderie amongst the staff of our churches – similar worship attendance, programs and ministries and hopes and dreams for the congregations. I am looking forward to finding out which churches are “peers” to El Dorado First.

New Appointment: How and When I Found Out

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I have been appointed to serve as the lead pastor at First United Methodist Church in El Dorado, KS beginning July 1. This is a series of posts about this transition.

At times the appointive process for pastors in The United Methodist Church can seem a bit mysterious – for pastors and congregations. I wanted to share how my appointment to First UMC El Dorado unfolded, along with my commentary:

  • Fall 2011 – I had my annual appointive conversation with District Superintendent and completed my appointive recommendation form.
    • This is part of the annual process, I was not sure what to expect about possible outcomes. I indicated that I was open but not asking for a move. Resurrection is a great place to be in ministry. Over the past year, I have become more clear about feeling called to be the lead pastor at a church. I did not know when that move might take place – this year or some time in the years ahead.

Thursday, March 7 – Preparatory Appointment Call

I received a phone call from the Kansas City District Superintendent in the evening. He indicated that I would be receiving a phone call from the Wichita East District Superintendent about an appointment that had been discerned for me. He asked if this was a good phone number to reach me and if tonight would be an okay time for that conversation.

  • The answer to if I was available was yes. I didn’t happen to have anything else planned, but this would have trumped about everything else I might have had on my calendar. Nicole and I briefly wondered why the name of the church wasn’t shared in this first phone call. We realized that the intervening time was helpful for us to process the news and be better prepared to listen when I did hear what the appointment would be.

Thursday, March 7 – Appointment Call

About an hour and half after the phone call from the KC District Superintendent, I received a phone call from the Wichita East District Superintendent indicating that the Bishop and cabinet had discerned that I would be appointed to El Dorado First United Methodist Church. He shared information about the church and the community. He asked if I needed time to consider, pray and talk with Nicole about this appointment. I indicated that this being the appointment that was made for me, I would go. The next step was to schedule an introductory meeting at First UMC and to keep the information confidential until then, as sometimes things do not go at those gatherings.

  • I was madly scribbling notes about the church and community, trying to look up information on the website and Google Maps and then turned to an electronic document to keep typing what the DS was sharing with me. I believe in God’s work through the appointive process and was glad to say yes to being sent to El Dorado in this conversation.

Monday, March 12 – Parsonage Tour

Nicole, John and I drove down to El Dorado in the afternoon. We arrived in time to drive around the city, take a look at El Dorado State Park and have supper at a local restaurant. The next stop was the parsonage (house provided for the pastor by the church) at 6:00 PM. We met the District Superintendent, current pastor and two members of the Staff Parish committee who also serve on the Parsonage team and Trustees. We had a tour of the house and talked about some possibilities that the church might do before we arrive. They indicated that they hoped to paint, perhaps re-carpet and a few other items.

  • It was neat to walk around the house where we will be living in a few months. It was overwhelming and generous to be asked our opinion on what might be updated in the house before we moved in. I tried to capture it all in my memory, but am sure that I will discover it all over again when we move in.

Monday, March 12 – Introductory at First UMC

After the parsonage tour, we went to the church to meet with the Staff Parish committee. The District Superintendent convened the meeting. As it turns out, the church did not know the who was being appointed before that night, just that someone had been appointed. Nicole and I had a chance to share our story as a way of introducing themselves. The committee members introduced themselves and shared about the church and community. I had some questions for them and they had some questions for me. There was some paperwork to be signed and then the meeting closed with a tour through the church building.

  • It felt great to meet the Staff Parish team. They are a wonderful group of leaders and I am looking forward to getting to working with them in the future. It was exciting to take a tour of the church and begin to imagine what it will be like to be in ministry inside and outside the walls. I tried to pack everything in to my memory.
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How Does the Appointment Process in the United Methodist Church work?

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I have been appointed to serve as the lead pastor at First United Methodist Church in El Dorado, KS beginning July 1. This is a series of posts about this transition.

When I have the chance to talk with someone more than briefly about the move one of the most common questions that comes up is about how pastors in the United Methodist Church get moved around in the first place. This question seems to be evenly distributed among those that have just started and long time attenders in United Methodist Churches. First a few of the key players

  • Bishop – oversees all the churches in an annual conference, which is nearly always a particular geographic area.
  • District Superintendents – oversee the churches in a particular area of the annual conference.
  • Cabinet – The Bishop, District Superintendents and a few other key staff

Here is the low down on the process:

United Methodist pastors are appointed to a church or churches on a yearly basis. In theory, a pastor could be appointed to a different location each year. In practice, an average would be that a pastor would serve 5 to 7 years at one location. It seems that the amount of time that a pastor serves at a particular place has trended longer more recently. Longer tenures tend to work out better for both pastors and congregations.

In the fall each year, the church makes a request as to whether their current pastor continues to be a great fit or if they would prefer that they serve elsewhere. This request is put together by the Staff Parish Committee, one of the governing bodies of the local church. As a pastor, I also complete an appointive request about whether I feel the congregation is a good fit for my gifts or if I might serve more effectively elsewhere. In addition to these forms, the District Superintendent has a conversation with both the pastor and the church about what might be next.

In January the appointive cabinet takes an inventory of all the churches and pastors is completed, taking in to account who will be retiring, who is graduating from seminary and will be ready for an appointment, what church / pastor combinations are working great and which are falling apart. Then they begin the discernment process using all this data, prayer and seeking God’s guidance to make appointments for the year ahead.

Ultimately it is the Bishop who makes the appointments with the advisement of the rest of the Cabinet. Bishop Scott Jones of Kansas has shared that the goal of the appointment process is “to maximize the missional effectiveness of every church in Kansas.”

Pastors and churches are notified of the appointments in the spring and they are fixed in the early summer at the annual meeting of all the pastors in the Annual Conference.

Does that make sense? What could be more clear? What did I get wrong? What else would be helpful to know?

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New Appointment: What’s Next for Nicole?

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I have been appointed to serve as the lead pastor at First United Methodist Church in El Dorado, KS beginning July 1. I am writing a series of posts about this transition.

One of the more common questions that I have received is: What is Nicole going to do?

My wife, Nicole, is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. She and I were appointed full time to Resurrection in 2006 and we have both served here since then. After our son was born and taking maternity leave, Nicole transitioned to a part-time, 20 hour / week role.

We will be moving as a family to El Dorado and Nicole has requested a 20 hour / week appointment in the El Dorado area. It would not be at First United Methodist Church in El Dorado, but it may be at another church in the area, in Wichita or some other flexible possibility. We have been told that the Bishop and District Superintendents are still in the discernment process for her. (I will write more about how this whole process works in the days ahead.) We hope to know within the next few weeks.

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New Appointment: El Dorado First United Methodist Church

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I have been appointed to serve as the lead pastor at First United Methodist Church in El Dorado, KS beginning July 1. The news was announced at El Dorado and Resurrection West on Sunday. El Dorado is a city with a population of about 13,000. It is located just off I-35 about 30 minutes east of Wichita. It is the county seat and most populous city in Butler County. First United Methodist Church was organized in 1869 and is thought to have been the first church in Butler County. The current church building was built in the 1920′s. They have a traditional and contemporary worship service on Sunday morning with a combined average worship attendance of 150 to 175.

I am excited about being the lead pastor at a congregation and using what I have learned at Resurrection to be a part of renewing the church. At the same time, I will miss all the great people on staff and in the congregation at Resurrection. I am looking forward to getting to know the people of the congregation and community in El Dorado and together take the next faithful step.

I plan to write more about the transition in the days ahead, so check back for more updates. If you have specific questions or would like to share a conversation, please feel free to email me at andrew.conard@rezwest.org.

Power of Environment: I Want to Work Here

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At one of my favorite coffee shops, I overheard a group of students say to the barista,

“We’re going to work here when we get old enough.”

I was struck by the power of this statement. The environment and culture is so enjoyable that someone would want to work there in the future. Not just be present or come from time to time, but commit time in the future to working to create the space for other people.

I hope to lead congregations with a similar culture. I hope that people don’t just come to worship or take part in ministry activities because it is nice or fills some niche in their life. I hope that people are so engaged by the the purpose and culture of the congregation that they want to help make space for others to share what they have experienced.

How Could the Church Have More Pleasant Surprises?

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Chick-fil-A

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Last week my son and I met Nicole for lunch at Chick-fil-A. This is a restaurant that has hospitality down pat and from which the church could draw helpful lessons. I have come to expect this when I go there to eat, but this time I had a surprise.

We had ordered a Kid’s Meal and was taking the toy (which was a computer game on CD) to the counter to trade it in for the board book designed for younger children. The cashier gladly took back the CD and asked if I would like a cup or a cone. I was confused. I was bringing it back to trade in for the board book. It took me a bit to catch on to what the cashier was telling me.

I could trade the CD in for a board book, or I could turn it back in for a kid’s ice cream cone.

Amazing!

What a great deal. I took the cone and there was a benefit for everyone. I will gladly make this trade again in the future.

This started me thinking about how to pleasantly surprise people at church? What do people (both new and regular attenders) expect when they walk in the doors to worship? In what ways could the church have more pleasant surprises? I haven’t come up with any out of the ballpark ideas yet, but will keep thinking as Chick-fil-A made a great impression on me.

Pastoral Excellence: Strategic Planning

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There are many things that I hope to do well as a pastor. One of those is strategic planning. The Wikipedia contributors define strategic planning in this way - ”Strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people.”

This process is critical for a local church to have significant success in their purpose. At Resurrection, our purpose is that we are building a Christian community where non-religious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. Each year the church council defines strategic objectives to help us accomplish this purpose. As an associate pastor, I have some role in this process and when I am the lead pastor at a church I want to be great at leading the congregation through this type of planning process.

Strategic planning can undergird the purpose of the church, equipping volunteers, mobilizing for mission and faith sharing. It is a helpful skill for pastors.