Planning How Our Pastoral Staff Will Look in 2017
Update on the Search for an Associate Pastor - June 1, 2016
By Phil Mortenson
The Personnel Commission has made good progress since March 1 toward determining how a new pastoral position would function at Seattle First Baptist. Although we are at least four months away from making a final decision on the design of the position, here are our present thoughts based on several commission meetings, discussions at Adult Learning and Diaconate meetings, and feedback from congregation members.
The tentative title of the new position is Associate Pastor—Children, Youth, Women & Outreach. We envision the new associate pastor dedicating most time to women’s programs, outreach to the community, children and youth, and preaching, in no particular order. Note that young adults are not included in this description. Pastor Ned is proposing to retain his present duties that concern young adults as he moves into a pastoral role that will be more “generalist” in nature (more on the generalist role below). However, the work that he has done with children and youth will be assumed by the new associate pastor or some other person. We are presently looking at alternative answers to filling the children and youth programming and duties, and therefore it may turn out that the new associate pastor focuses only on women’s programs, outreach and preaching. Administrative duties, such as attending church meetings and responding to congregational needs, will also be included in that pastor’s job description.
We initially wanted to target filling the new position in January, 2017. However, congregational feedback convinced us to slow down the design process and postpone the selection of the search committee until after Pastor Tim’s sabbatical ends on August 31. During the period that he is on sabbatical, the Personnel Commission will more fully develop the new job descriptions for Pastors Tim and Ned and also explore alternative solutions to how we can fill such functions as managing the inclusion and participation of children and youth in the life of the church.
Whenever we think about adding to the church staff, we need to consider cost carefully. Ideally, we would want to be able to hire a new associate pastor with no increase to the staffing budget, meaning in concrete terms that funds for the salary and benefits of the new associate pastor would be covered by the salaries of Peach Jack, who retired May 22, and Pastor Patricia Hunter, who will leave her temporary position on August 31. We have not yet settled on whether the new pastor’s position will be half-time or three-quarters time. If it is the latter, the staffing budget is projected to increase by about $29,000. If it is a half-time position, the budget is expected to increase by approximately $9,000.
Among the issues that the Personnel Commission and church leadership will be discussing and analyzing over the next several months are prioritizing the duties of the new associate pastor and gaining more information about alternatives (such as rearranging existing staff duties, looking at availability of interim pastors and other staff, and searching for volunteers who could fill some of the roles projected for the new pastor). The commission will also try to make sure that time allocations for the duties to be assumed by the new associate pastor and by Pastor Ned in his new generalist position are reasonable and appropriate.
Finally, here are a few words about the reconfiguration of Pastor Ned’s position from Pastor for Children, Families and Young Adults to Pastor. When Pastor Tim begins his sabbatical starting June 1, Pastor Ned will temporarily undertake the duties of lead pastor. When Pastor Tim returns, Pastor Patricia will be leaving her temporary pastoral position and therefore all the pastoral duties, except those performed by Pastor David and involving Senior Ministries, will fall to Pastors Tim and Ned. To accomplish all the duties facing the pastoral staff, they will need more flexibility and redundancy. Some of those recurring areas of responsibilities are worship planning and services, pastoral care and counseling, weddings and memorial services, young adults and other targeted ministries, outreach and missions, membership development, educational services, formal communications such as the Spire, administration and finance, and staff management. Consequently, it is appropriate that we now begin the process of transitioning Pastor Ned into the general pastor role, which will benefit the church and give Pastor Ned a greater variety of responsibilities in line with his increased pastoral experience.”
By Phil Mortenson
The Personnel Commission has made good progress since March 1 toward determining how a new pastoral position would function at Seattle First Baptist. Although we are at least four months away from making a final decision on the design of the position, here are our present thoughts based on several commission meetings, discussions at Adult Learning and Diaconate meetings, and feedback from congregation members.
The tentative title of the new position is Associate Pastor—Children, Youth, Women & Outreach. We envision the new associate pastor dedicating most time to women’s programs, outreach to the community, children and youth, and preaching, in no particular order. Note that young adults are not included in this description. Pastor Ned is proposing to retain his present duties that concern young adults as he moves into a pastoral role that will be more “generalist” in nature (more on the generalist role below). However, the work that he has done with children and youth will be assumed by the new associate pastor or some other person. We are presently looking at alternative answers to filling the children and youth programming and duties, and therefore it may turn out that the new associate pastor focuses only on women’s programs, outreach and preaching. Administrative duties, such as attending church meetings and responding to congregational needs, will also be included in that pastor’s job description.
We initially wanted to target filling the new position in January, 2017. However, congregational feedback convinced us to slow down the design process and postpone the selection of the search committee until after Pastor Tim’s sabbatical ends on August 31. During the period that he is on sabbatical, the Personnel Commission will more fully develop the new job descriptions for Pastors Tim and Ned and also explore alternative solutions to how we can fill such functions as managing the inclusion and participation of children and youth in the life of the church.
Whenever we think about adding to the church staff, we need to consider cost carefully. Ideally, we would want to be able to hire a new associate pastor with no increase to the staffing budget, meaning in concrete terms that funds for the salary and benefits of the new associate pastor would be covered by the salaries of Peach Jack, who retired May 22, and Pastor Patricia Hunter, who will leave her temporary position on August 31. We have not yet settled on whether the new pastor’s position will be half-time or three-quarters time. If it is the latter, the staffing budget is projected to increase by about $29,000. If it is a half-time position, the budget is expected to increase by approximately $9,000.
Among the issues that the Personnel Commission and church leadership will be discussing and analyzing over the next several months are prioritizing the duties of the new associate pastor and gaining more information about alternatives (such as rearranging existing staff duties, looking at availability of interim pastors and other staff, and searching for volunteers who could fill some of the roles projected for the new pastor). The commission will also try to make sure that time allocations for the duties to be assumed by the new associate pastor and by Pastor Ned in his new generalist position are reasonable and appropriate.
Finally, here are a few words about the reconfiguration of Pastor Ned’s position from Pastor for Children, Families and Young Adults to Pastor. When Pastor Tim begins his sabbatical starting June 1, Pastor Ned will temporarily undertake the duties of lead pastor. When Pastor Tim returns, Pastor Patricia will be leaving her temporary pastoral position and therefore all the pastoral duties, except those performed by Pastor David and involving Senior Ministries, will fall to Pastors Tim and Ned. To accomplish all the duties facing the pastoral staff, they will need more flexibility and redundancy. Some of those recurring areas of responsibilities are worship planning and services, pastoral care and counseling, weddings and memorial services, young adults and other targeted ministries, outreach and missions, membership development, educational services, formal communications such as the Spire, administration and finance, and staff management. Consequently, it is appropriate that we now begin the process of transitioning Pastor Ned into the general pastor role, which will benefit the church and give Pastor Ned a greater variety of responsibilities in line with his increased pastoral experience.”
Participate in the Conversation during Adult Learning at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays, May 1 and 8
Join our pastors and representatives of our Personnel Commission for a discussion. The Personnel Commission is now at the very early stages of developing the framework for the selection of an additional pastor. They would like input from the congregation on some important issues:
Join our pastors and representatives of our Personnel Commission for a discussion. The Personnel Commission is now at the very early stages of developing the framework for the selection of an additional pastor. They would like input from the congregation on some important issues:
- the importance of diversity on the pastoral team
- preference for part-time or full-time position if funding permits full time
- constitution of the search committee
- preferred skills and talents in a new pastor
- goals and needs of SFBC that should be addressed by a new pastor
- the areas of pastoral service that should be given priority by the entire pastoral staff
Postcard From the Future: Report from the Strategic Planning Group
by Susan Blythe-Goodman on behalf of the Strategic Planning Group
Note: This material was originally published in the December, 2015 Spire. It is presented here to aid in this discussion.
Last January, the news of Pastor Cathy and Pastor Craig’s retirements challenged us to look into the future to where the church might be or want to go as a faith community. We felt this process would ground our thinking before making our next very important long-term decisions around staffing, current and future programs, and capital acquisitions.
Representative members of the Diaconate formed a Strategic Planning Group (SPG) and began holding regular meetings. The SPG solicited input from the members of the congregation as well as presented their thoughts midway through our process to the Diaconate in addition to all Commission members at a special summer Wednesday night dinner. The visions/goals of the congregation at large reflected the same vision/goals we had been discussing in the SPG meetings. What we’re presenting here should not be a surprise to anyone. This summary represents the collected thoughts and goals of our faith community.
As we enter the stewardship season we are given an opportunity to bring our own personal visions/goals into alignment with the collective visions/goals of our faith community. How fully we can commit to the vision/goals we have for our church depends upon how well we fund these visions through financial stewardship and stewardship through voluntarism. As you read and contemplate how you are able to support the stewardship process you should also be excited about how you will advance the collective vision we have for our church community.
The SPG work began first by creating a “Destination Postcard”. We asked ourselves, in what direction(s) do we as a church want to proceed over the next 3 to 5 years? It was with this thought that the SPG developed Destination Postcard.
Destination Postcard: We will be known as a vibrant, intergenerational Christian community that engages in authentic worship. We will be loving and supportive of one another and we will express this to the world.
After developing a “destination postcard” the SPG identified several areas of focus that were felt could move the church community to that destination. One area of focus that was felt to be critical in our being successful was to focus some efforts to improve and/or expand several of the ministries within the church.
Ministerial Staff: Our destination will be more likely attained when we could assure our pastors and worship leaders were engaged in work that they felt was meaningful to them; that they were adequately compensated; and that their work was appreciated by the faith community. As a result the SPG group suggested that the pastors be allowed flexibility in their roles as pastors and permission to expand their pastoral duties in response to our congregations’ ever changing needs.
Women In Ministry: The SPG also identified that a commitment to supporting a women minister on staff who would enrich our church and broaden its role in the greater Seattle community adding vibrancy to our churches destination. Since the departure of Pastor Cathy, we have been blessed to have Pastor Patricia join our pastoral team on an interim basis. At the end of the interim period the SPG suggests that the church would fully commit to having a strong vibrant women minister. Immediate support of this ministry could take many creative forms: having a female pastor on staff, having a longer period for our interim pastor, having a female Theologian in Residence, having female pastors as speakers in the pulpit.
Music Ministry: The church has a strong music ministry, and the SPG felt this must be continued. We have a music program for all ages, a church choir, Jazz Vespers, among others. However, we as a community need to explicitly show that the work of the music ministerial staff is highly valued and adequately compensated for particularly in those moments when extra work is being performed.
Media Ministry: The past two years has been a trial period for the church’s fledgling but growing Media Ministry. We have seen that certain components of this ministry become essential to the life and growth of our community. An up-to-date refreshed calendar on the website, sermons that are posted and archived online, the Spire being immediately available online, a blog that engages members of the greater Seattle community, all have become our very attractive components of our current media ministry and should continue as priorities into the future. These services have both created access to our worship experience for those who are unable to be in the Sanctuary on Sunday mornings for any reason as well as been a contact point for those who are seeking a new church home. However, a vibrant media ministry should not be limited to just these venues. There are many other ways we can grow our Media Ministry. The SPG felt that the church community must look at innovative and creative ways to fund and, if possible, expand this new valuable ministry.
Committed Faith Community: A strong spirit of and an environment that encourages and supports volunteerism is a must for our church to reach its destination. Volunteerism benefits the church, and it benefits individual members by engaging our hearts and minds in our community and our community’s vision for the future. The SPG felt that a broader emphasis on volunteerism needs to be fostered, particularly in these times where both our time and financial resources are being pulled in many other directions.
Access: The church will continue to put energy into elevators, ramps, and parking to provide access of members to our one-of-a-kind facility. However, there are several creative ideas being discussed that would engage all of our church members in this process. One of these is through the expansion of our Media Ministry: a site to organize ride shares, a site to organize small neighborhood groups, a site for members to interact online.
Community Outreach: The work of Companis is also an integral part of our church community, and is one way that our church continues to be directly and intimately involved, at times with some of the broader community’s most vulnerable members. SPG believe that we need to continue to stay actively involved in broadcasting the Companis’ story to the world.
Organizational Stewardship: The SPG identified the need to continually assess the matching of staff to the needs and vision/goals of our church community. Recruiting a new administrator is going to be the next major focus in staffing. To reach our destination, we need a strong church administrator who will work closely with the congregation on all of the aforementioned goals.
Financial Viability: For any of these visions/goals to be realized, the church needs an environment of stewardship, to fund what we believe in. So as Pastor Patricia says, “as you think about our collective goals as a community, what’s in your pocket?” What do you have to give, finances, time, or another form of support to help the church reach our destination.
An Important Message from the Personnel Commission
March 1, 2016
By Phil Mortenson
It's time to consider and plan how our pastoral staff will look in 2017. We need your help in selecting a staff addition to our pastoral team. As you may recall, Catherine Fransson and Craig Darling retired in 2015. We are overjoyed that Pastor Patricia Hunter was willing and able to join us on an interim basis. Although she has been a wonderful supplement to the team, she must return to her other career after this August.
The Personnel Commission and Diaconate recently initiated a discussion about filling the open position, if possible, at the beginning of 2017 with a full-time or part-time pastor. Issues to be explored include the duties this pastor would fill (i.e., job description), how to fund the position, the importance of diversity in selecting the pastor (the pastoral staff in September will consist of all white males), whether the position should be full time if funds permit, and what process should be used in making the selection. You may have additional issues to add to this list.
We are very interested in what you the congregation think about our pastoral needs and how you envision the look of the future team and the services it should not only be providing but emphasizing. If you have input, please speak with Phil Mortenson, Pastor Tim Phillips, or another member of the Personnel Commission or Diaconate. We will keep you informed as this discussion progresses over the coming months.
March 1, 2016
By Phil Mortenson
It's time to consider and plan how our pastoral staff will look in 2017. We need your help in selecting a staff addition to our pastoral team. As you may recall, Catherine Fransson and Craig Darling retired in 2015. We are overjoyed that Pastor Patricia Hunter was willing and able to join us on an interim basis. Although she has been a wonderful supplement to the team, she must return to her other career after this August.
The Personnel Commission and Diaconate recently initiated a discussion about filling the open position, if possible, at the beginning of 2017 with a full-time or part-time pastor. Issues to be explored include the duties this pastor would fill (i.e., job description), how to fund the position, the importance of diversity in selecting the pastor (the pastoral staff in September will consist of all white males), whether the position should be full time if funds permit, and what process should be used in making the selection. You may have additional issues to add to this list.
We are very interested in what you the congregation think about our pastoral needs and how you envision the look of the future team and the services it should not only be providing but emphasizing. If you have input, please speak with Phil Mortenson, Pastor Tim Phillips, or another member of the Personnel Commission or Diaconate. We will keep you informed as this discussion progresses over the coming months.