Thursday, May 24, 2018

Hey Fletch … I attended the XP-Seminar a few years ago and took one of your XPastor Online Courses. I am now on the leadership team of our church. We have grown rapidly from 300 to 2,000 in less than 5 years. Our Executive Pastor job description was for a smaller church and had no measurable expectations. What do you have as examples of Executive Pastor job descriptions or job interview expectations to lead a church that could be 3,000 with a large growing staff?

What services do you have available for coaching an XP and evaluating performance of an XP?

DRF—Your church is in a massive growth phase. That is so hard to deal with and everyone wants those kinds of problems. You have blown through the 600 and 1,200 person levels. Those are huge cultural levels for churches.

Here is a ministry description for an XP of a church of 3,500. When you get to that size, the role description tends to be broad. Specifics often go into annual strategic goals and tactical plans, which are highly specific and change from year to year.

In terms of personalized coaching, my style is to do 6 and 12 month engagements. The current and anticipated size of your church is a daunting task for many new XPs. There are specific things that the Senior Pastor, Executive Pastor and Elders need to do … and they radically change when attendance goes from 2,000 to 3,500.

If you would like to talk more, we can chat by email or set up a phone call.

I’m so pleased for your church. I also hope that you hear the concern that I have for you guys. Seminaries teach how to cope with failure, but rarely teach how to deal with success. Styles of leadership, governance and management change with every size of church, 300 to 600 to 1200 to 2,000 to 3,500.

Response—Thank you very much for your quick reply. Very complete.

We will be working on updating the XP job description and coaching in Feb.

I value the resource you are for churches