I wrote a post a few years ago called adventures in candidating. you can read it here. candidating is a church word that means applying for a pastor job. Once again, I recently found myself candidating. I ended up at the most amazing church. I recently re-read my old post, and I completely agree with everything that I said before. This time, instead of lessons, I just have stories. here are a few that stood out- I'll label them by city:
The San Jose story- I talked with a church from San Jose for a long time. I sent them videos, I filled out their forms, I talked with the head of their search committee for hours. In the end, the head of the search committee told me, "our last youth pastor was a scientist- and he talked to the students about science. they were all really interested in what he had to say. that's really what we are looking for. as I review your talks, I don't see anything about science, so its going to be a no."
The Cupertino story- I had a pastor reach out to me from Cupertino. He was thrilled to talk to me. He told me that we had so many friends in common and that I would make an excellent addition to their team. He told me that the discipleship pastor would reach out to me. The discipleship pastor reached out to me and had me give him my life story, my call to ministry, my philosophy of ministry and the basics of my theological beliefs. Then he told me that they weren't hiring right now, but maybe someday!
The Almaden story- There is a church in the Almaden neighborhood of San Jose. They called, and I was super-excited to meet with them. I have been following this church for years and have many friends who work there. I met with one of their pastors who told me that they had several campuses and several roles open. They seemed very interested in moving forward. Another one of their pastors called me a few days later and he was very excited to talk. He knew many of my former students and thought that I would be a great fit at the church. Then I got a call from their executive pastor who said, "we actually had people lined up for each of those open roles already. its not going to work out."
The Milpitas story- a head hunter contacted me and told me that he had a gut feeling that I was the right guy for a church in Milpitas. I did a video interview with them, and they kept asking me trick questions. They gave me scenarios that were trying to get to an answer to a question that they had. This church was really into NOT having women in leadership. They asked me, "if a middle school girl came up to you and told you that she felt called to be a leader in the church, what would you tell her?" I could tell that this was a trick question and that I was walking into a trap. I said, "I could pour water on that fire, or gasoline; and I'd find all the gasoline that I could and fan that flame." Their mind was instantly made up that I was the wrong guy for the job. The recruiter was furious.
There are more stories to share, but those are some of the more prominent ones in my mind. The entire experience was an emotional roller coaster. It was incredibly frustrating and heartbreaking at times. I found many of these churches to be very unprofessional in their processes. but then, there was:
The Castro Valley Story- I met the most amazing group of leaders, students, and volunteers
in Castro Valley. I fell in love with them and I hope to stay there forever.
God is love.
-rev-rob
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