Before You Go: Coffee Talk

Imagine that you are a preacher.

Scary thought I know.

You have decided that you’ve done everything you can do at your current church and it’s time to move on to a new one. In fact, you’ve completed a weekend interview with a prospective church and they’ve offered you the job. You’re excited, but you haven’t officially said “yes” yet.

Later that day you have a coffee meeting with me on your calendar. You come into Starbucks and begin to tell me about your new opportunity. Because we’re friends and because I’ve been around the block a time or two and have the scars to prove it, I begin to ask you a few questions about the new church, the interview process, and your mindset as you prepare for a new ministry.

These questions aren’t meant to take away your excitement or talk you out of taking the job. Instead, they’re meant to help you clarify your thinking about the opportunity before you. Maybe they’ll cause you to pause before you say “yes” and ask a few more questions of the search team or to go off to a quiet place where you can reflect on what you’re moving toward  and what you’re moving away from.

More than anything, I’ll challenge you to make sure you’ve asked yourself and the search team the best questions possible.

That’s the scenario I had in mind when I wrote “Before You Go: A Few Sneaky-Good Questions Every Minister Should Ask Before Moving to a New Church.”

It’s not for only ministers. I hope search teams and Elder boards will read it as well. I believe it will fund better conversations and lead to deeper levels of discernment among all involved in a minister search process.

To read more, download the Kindle version here and the Nook version here.