Pulpit Committee Primer

Pulpit Committee Names and Duties

The Pulpit Committee is comprised of three deacons — Greg Beckmeyer, Art Unger, and Ted Velat — and two members at large — Larry Dunckel and Mike Thomas. The Pulpit Committee's duties are three:

  1. Keep the pulpit filled with speakers while we are without a pastor;
  2. Collect names, investigate, and find a pastoral candidate to recommend to the congregation; and
  3. Work with the Personnel Committee to recommend a salary package once a candidate is chosen.
Committee Organization

The committee meets each Monday night at 7:00 p.m. and has met twice in a week as necessary to get organized. We begin and end each meeting with prayer.

Each week our agenda includes review and update of the preaching schedule. We are completing our church packet with information about the church and preliminary questions for potential candidates. We will be taking a survey of the congregation during Sunday School on September 9. Please plan on attending that Sunday. The survey will ask questions about what you want to see in our next pastor. We are also preparing questions to mail to potential candidates, and follow-up questions for subsequent interviews. We welcome your suggested questions.

Where Do We Get Speakers and Candidates?

We receive potential pulpit supply (speakers) and potential candidates from several sources:

  1. Bible and Christian colleges;
  2. Mission organizations;
  3. GARBC State Representatives in various states; and
  4. YOU.

If you have a name of someone you would like us to consider, please get it to us. We want your input.

What Do We Do With Names of Potential Candidates?

We will first compile a list of names from various sources. This will take two months or more. We will then take our top five choices from the information we have and contact those men. The first contact will be by phone to ask if they would consider reviewing a church packet from us. If they decline, we are done. If not, we send a packet with information and preliminary questions and request for references. When we receive the packet, after review and investigation, we will decide whether to set up a phone interview with a more comprehensive list of questions. If that goes well, we may visit him or we may set up a weekend for the person to candidate, including meeting with staff, all ministry groups, deacons, and the congregation. We will only consider one candidate at a time.

The deacons will then vote upon whether to recommend the candidate to the congregation for a vote to call. A two-thirds majority is required to extend a call.

How Can You Help?

We will address this in the near future.