copyright (c) 2016 by slingshot group. · as a church leader, i’m sure you know how intimidating...

Copyright (c) 2016 by Slingshot Group. Distributed via Slingshot Group.

Slingshot Group is a not-for-profit that provides staffing and coaching for kingdom-minded organizations. We aim the Church toward the remarkable. For more information, visit slingshotgroup.org.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations used in connection with reviews in magazines or newspapers.

All rights reserved.Cover and Interior Design: Historic AgencyEditor: Sabina Muslimovic

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1Preparing to Build a Successful Team

Chapter 2Hiring: The Art

Chapter 3Hiring: The Science

Chapter 4Necessary Endings

Conclusion

About the Author

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FOREWARDSome of the highest stakes decisions you will ever face involve the process of hiring. Find the right person and blessing follows: problems get solved, community strengthens and ministry soars. Hire the wrong person and watch out—you’re inviting sideways energy and setbacks into the life of your team and the future of your organization.

High stakes decision-making therefore requires practical, proven wisdom. Having helped over 800 ministry teams find the next best staff person, Monty Kelso delivers relevant and revealing insights. Best of all, this quick read will yield enduring value. I don’t know a better guide than Monty; walk with him on the journey to building a remarkable team.

Will ManciniFounder of Auxano and author of God Dreams

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INTRODUCTION

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S T A F F I N G S M A R T S I N T R O D U C T I O N

Investing in the development of your church leadership has never been more important. From building healthy teams to navigating ministry crisis in your church staff, the people you hire are the most significant investment your church will make.

In fact, finding the right staff is now considered “critical care.” The best leaders understand that hiring the best people will ultimately affect the health and wellbeing of their organizations. Therefore, hiring must not exist just to fill an empty space, but rather to complete the team in a way that catapults the organization (and those involved) forward. There is too much at stake already, let alone the setbacks that accompany staff turnover.

With a full-time focus in church staffing, and having placed over 800 people throughout the nation in multiple denominations, movements and models, we at Slingshot Group have discovered there’s no prescriptive formula for ensuring a successful search process. However, there are important steps churches can take to best prepare for and implement a successful search regardless of the role that needs to be filled. We also realize that not all hires may require the help of an outside party like us, so it’s our aim to equip you with these important steps so you can manage the process successfully on your own.

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S T A F F I N G S M A R T S I N T R O D U C T I O N

As a church leader, I’m sure you know how intimidating the search and hiring process can be. There’s immense pressure to find the right fit—that person who fits the culture of your church, has the right qualifications and experience, meshes well with the rest of the team, and can stand behind and help propel your vision as a church forward. The list goes on, but it’s safe to say that finding the right staff member to fill a role is often a complex task.

So how do you find the right hire? The “best people” oftentimes come in random ways, but ultimately by God’s divine provision. The goal of this eBook is to facilitate best practices in a search that will expedite the process with the best possible outcome.

Our prayer is that your church will use this eBook as a resource to help you build up a remarkable ministry team that thrives, and whose energy permeates throughout the rest of your church staff and volunteers. We hope this book will inspire your current processes for hiring and firing so you can build the strongest ministry team possible.

I can’t reiterate enough the importance of investing time and energy into your staff search and hiring processes—not only will it help bring the right people to the table, but allow your church to make an even greater impact for the Kingdom.

Monty Kelso

CHAPTER 01PREPARING FOR A SUCCESSFUL STAFF SEARCH

Finding the right staff for your church can be a daunting task. There’s no doubt that the church landscape has drastically changed in the past 20 years. With the development of more specialized ministries, greater access to candidates via the Internet, and even higher stakes to hire the right person, pulling the trigger on a bad hire can be a costly mistake on many different levels.

When trying to find that next great hire, it can be easy to skip over the planning portion of the hiring process. However, I would argue that this is a critical time to evaluate how you will prepare the way for a new hire and confirm the logistics before putting the search into motion. Below is an outline of some things to consider in the initial planning process of finding your next best hire.

PREPARE THE WAY

Preparing the way for hiring new staff occurs long before we’re faced with the critical moment of filling a position at our church. We need to be aware of our staff dynamics at any given time so we can anticipate changes that may be on the horizon, including a staff person leaving. Having a clear read of how our current staff are working together may also help us better navigate positive changes by addressing known issues before they blow up.

“The best staff members are drawn to leaders who avoid ambiguity and

embrace clarity.”

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S T A F F I N G S M A R T S C H A P T E R 1

Keep in mind that as you’re growing or bringing in new staff, it’s important to continue to identify and clarify your church’s vision, values and primary initiatives. The best staff members are drawn to leaders who avoid ambiguity and embrace clarity. The clearer your vision, the better you’ll be able to articulate it, and the easier it’ll be for new staff to embrace and put it into action.

When preparing for a search, choose the most capable people who understand the staff position you will be filling (this may include both staff and volunteers). These will be your “internal filters”—the people who will generate and keep the momentum going throughout the search. Keep the search team lean and focused to provide for better decision-making throughout the process. More often than not, getting too many people involved will bog the process down rather than helping you in the end.

From this pre-defined group of people, identify a primary ambassador. This contact must have a comprehensive understanding of the church, the role, and know how to best communicate with others interpersonally. The initial point of contact representing the church with the candidate cannot be underestimated!

Throughout the preparation process, remember to always prayerfully seek God’s perfect provision. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and revelation throughout the process. Allow Him to direct you and trust Him to bring the right people to the table. God already knows who the right fit for the position will be—trust that He will make it clear to you.

CONFIRM THE LOGISTICS

One of the upsides of making a staff change is that it affords an opportunity to re-evaluate current structures to best serve the future growth of the church, and to consider new organizational

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models that may better serve the vision and mission of your church. Take a look at your current staff structure and consider areas where it could be improved to more effectively serve the church. How would the new hire fit in? Are there responsibilities or duties that would need to be added to or transferred between current team members? It’s important to recognize at this point that old paradigms may not provide the best method moving forward.

Along with this re-evaluation, preparing for a new hire will require you to determine the new staff member’s role and responsibilities, as well as confirm their compensation package. We recommend detailing the role and responsibilities of the position you’re hiring for in writing with an understanding that it may be modified as much as 20% once the top candidate is identified and confirmed. Due diligence will also require a close look at what you will need to pay in order to hire to your expectations. What you paid yesterday is not necessarily what you will pay for tomorrow’s next hire. Do your research in this area to offer an attractive, yet feasible compensation package. The best hires will probably cost more than “the average” hire, but take note of the fact that this could be your best investment ever.

Once you’ve laid out the details of the position, take some time to determine the vetting process for the position and define a communication plan moving forward. Identify assessment tools as well as documents needed from candidates to determine a viable fit, including: resume, questionnaire, video links, references, published resources, blogs, social media, etc. Then, set into place a communication plan between your team and potential hires. It’s crucial that you communicate with regularity and clarity throughout the search process. The church body and staff will require different levels of communication—work from your particular dynamics to determine the right strategy.

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CHAPTER 02HIR ING: THE ART

You’ve prepared the way, confirmed the logistics, and are ready to put your hiring plan into motion. You’re ready to get the ball rolling, and while it may be easy to bring on the first qualified person who walks through the door, hiring the best person for the job takes a lot more digging.

To find the best person for the role, you must engage both right brain and left-brain. Finding and hiring is both an art and a science. It is both “wooing” and vetting. The “wooing” has to do with understanding the person, their story, and providing the things that “light them up.” The vetting has to do with processes and filters that will result in a sound and sensible hire—it’s learning to trust your own instincts along with the assessments of others.

GET CREATIVE:THINKING BEYOND THE JOB DESCRIPTION

The art of hiring requires you to think creatively about the current state of your church culture, methods, style, and tone so you can imagine what it would look like to add a new member to your team. Before beginning the hiring process, I highly recommend you do an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) on your church. An MRI

“It’s time to get creative, re-evaluate current procedures, and turn normal job

descriptions into ministry careers that are inspiring and life-giving.”

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typically is used to give a person a very detailed picture of what may be going on in their body, and is one of the best techniques for finding tumors (benign or malignant abnormal growths). If a tumor is present, then the scan can also be used to find out if the growth has spread into other areas of the body, including brain tissue.

Thinking of your church as a “body,” what would it look like if it were to undergo an MRI scan? Which areas would show up as “abnormal”? Before you hire someone new, ensure that any current problems have been noted and that you’ve put a process into place to address those particular issues. In short, make sure the current MRI of your church is clear, and you’ll provide an even better environment for new staff to join your team.

A great process to help determine the MRI of your church is one I learned from Tom Paterson, the great “StratOp/life-planning” coach. It will help you optimize current hiring systems, change certain methods, add to current processes, and ultimately bring clarity to your thinking. You’ll find that this process is one that’s still intact at the Paterson Group.

Take a sheet of paper and make four columns with the headers “Right,” “Wrong,” “Confused,” and “Missing.” Then answer the following questions:

Right: What are the things to celebrate that have brought good, healthy results? What areas has your church done well in?

Wrong: What are the things that didn’t go so well? What are some of the ideas that seemed good at first but ended up being a flop? (This takes some tough skin to discuss but offers great lessons to learn from.)

Confused: What are those things you just can’t figure out? What can be done to remove the confusion?

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Missing: What action steps have surfaced as a result of this organizational analysis?

After working through this process, you might find yourself re-evaluating your current way of doing things, which means that the hiring process you may have originally had in place may no longer be a good fit for future hires. One important consideration is job descriptions. Are you hiring to fit a specific checklist of activities, or are you hiring someone who fits a cause—a bigger vision?

Gordon MacKenzie, the great Hallmark Card artist, put it this way in his book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball: “On a dance floor, people are not boxed in, and they manage very nicely to avoid tripping over one another. If we are to achieve the quantum leaps the future seems to be demanding of us, we must risk to leave our containers-turned-cages and find the grace to dance without stepping on toes.” This all points to clarity. So should we develop specific job descriptions for new hires? Yes, but be sure to take careful steps in connecting your hiring to a cause, a future, an opportunity—rather than a checklist of proposed duties. You’ll be much more successful in attracting the best talent if you see and explain the position as a chance for the right person to grow and develop. Change is upon us all. You feel it, I feel it, and our churches feel it. It’s time to get creative, re-evaluate current procedures, and turn normal job descriptions into ministry careers that are inspiring and life-giving.

WHAT’S YOUR STORY?THE PERSON BEHIND THE RESUME

In the hiring process, the qualities that often seemingly “qualify” a person for a position on paper may not correlate with who they are internally. More often than not, we judge whether or not a person

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is eligible for a position based on their prior work experience, accomplishments, and so forth. One great thing resumes can offer us is a quick, easy way to see a person’s track record.

But can a resume truly give you an accurate picture of who that person is? Are resumes really the best way to find the best people?

To find the best people, we need to dig deeper. What is their story? What is their “bent”? When I have an initial conversation with someone about a job, here are the things I want to know:

• What energizes you?• What are your favorite books and movies?• What did you love about your former job?• Tell me about one of the most successful times in your ministry.• Tell me about your family—your wife, kids, etc.• What’s the best concert you ever attended?• What is a mistake you have made in the past and how did you correct it?

Learn how to ask inspiring questions that draw out the personality and character of the person who you are considering hiring. At Slingshot Group, we hire people who are kind and have contrite, humble spirits—these are qualities you simply cannot glean from a resume.

Imagine if the tables were turned and the candidate was actually interviewing you and your church. Here are some questions you might want to ask yourself prior to interviewing the candidate:

• Is our church a great place to work?• Do we have too many staff leaving our church?• Does our staff feel valued?• Are we really getting the best possible results from our staff?• Would our staff recommend our church as a great place to work?• Does our staff not only know but feel that we care about them?

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• Is our staff allowed to contribute creative, innovative suggestions to the leadership?• How will the staff respond when asked, “Do you love your job?”

The working environment or culture of a church will often be the very thing that will inspire highly skilled, talented people to want to stay. It is the responsibility of leadership to attract, inspire, develop, resource and challenge talented people. Don’t assume that everyone wants to come work at your church. Spend time learning how to be an attractive place to work. Be prepared to create jobs at your church that the future will require. Some of these skills are not even on the radar today, but they soon will be.

Plan for the future ministry jobs, but in the meantime, be proactive in becoming an attractive place to work.

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CHAPTER 03HIR ING: THE SCIENCE

Once you have poked and prodded at the artful “snapshot” of the church, its leadership, a clear vision for the future, the values that matter most, and the kind of person that fits your church culture best, it’s time to determine a specific action plan. Here are some important factors to keep in mind when you decide to engage in a search for staff.

DETERMINE YOUR SEARCH PROCESS PLAN

There are many pathways to choose for a successful search process. Given the resources at hand, you can determine if you should own the search process internally or partner with a professional search firm to facilitate the process. It all comes down to the scope of your network and internal pipeline of candidates, not to mention the immense time that will be invested by current staff in mining out and recognizing the right fit. If you don’t want to settle for a limited reach of candidates, it may be the best investment to partner with a professional search ministry that specializes in identifying and positioning the best talent possible for your ministry staff.

“A successful staff search goes far beyond simply identifying and

facilitating the hire—it’s more about what happens in the months and years

to come.”

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EXPOSE THE OPPORTUNITY

There are a variety of websites and means of posting the new staff opportunity that are available to you. Be prepared to sift through a large amount of inquiries, especially if your location is near a metropolitan city or in a more moderate climate. The unfortunate reality is that most of the applicants will likely not suit your needs or expectations, which can make this a time-consuming and frustrating process. Although there are some next level people who troll the Internet for jobs, the most qualified and desired leaders tend to operate in a more covert fashion.

LEVERAGE YOUR NETWORK

Cast the net wide and deep to capture the interests of others. Your personal network is always the best place to begin a search if you feel it might be adequate enough to get the search in motion. Don’t underestimate the power of social media in helping get the word out, but be prepared to invest many hours in the process. You’ll also want to make sure that the person culling through the applications will be able to identify the right talent when they see it.

Oftentimes, virtual profiles are lackluster in their ability to truly embody the person they’re representing or their potential. That’s why at Slingshot Group, we help candidates build a digital portfolio that provides a clear picture of who they are, where they’ve been, what others think of them and what they do best. The ability to view potential hires through the same lens becomes a great advantage when comparing and contrasting multiple candidates.

RESPOND TO INQUIRIES

A prompt response to an interested person is critical, because timing is everything. It’s not unusual for the best people to be

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recruited quickly, and oftentimes it’s the church that initiates the relationship in a timely manner that has the greatest advantage. When you receive an intriguing inquiry, be sure to send over a detailed profile of your church and the position you’re looking to fill to clarify the role and kind of person you’re seeking. Be aware of compliance issues to avoid discrimination. Remember that how you appeal to candidates gives them their first impression of you, followed immediately by your website. If you choose to partner with a staffing organization like Slingshot Group, we will visit your church over a weekend to listen, observe, coach, and help you confirm with clarity the necessary profiles and processes needed to effectively respond to inquiries you receive.

ENGAGE WITH VIABLE CONTACTS

Connect with contacts you think may be viable candidates for the position. Begin conversations, interviews, and auditions to determine not only their capacity to do the job, but whether they are the right fit for your culture. Never underestimate your instincts regarding personality fit. On the other hand, it’s often also advantageous to ask candidates to engage in preferred inventories that reveal personality, work and thinking style, motivation, and how they may or may not gel with your current staff and culture.

Realize that time is of the essence in most cases. If too much time lags between conversations and visits, you are opening up the possibility of losing your top pick. However, do vet the candidates prayerfully and thoroughly. Understand that this takes time—there are no shortcuts.

Remember, the best candidates are interviewing you also. You can never underestimate the interpersonal dynamics involved in a search process. Therefore, it’s important to be mindful of your own church’s appeal to next level leaders by ensuring you put your best

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efforts into:

1. Your website2. Vision clarity3. Core values and consistent language that reflects those values4. Thoughtful position profiles that clearly communicate needs and expectations 5. A carefully curated search team (if needed)6. A thoughtful interview process7. A realistic compensation package

DETERMINE THE RIGHT HIRE

With the Holy Spirit’s help, you will intuitively sense a good “fit.” But there is always a measure of faith involved in the plethora of decisions that must be made in the process. This is where a search professional comes into play—to help you navigate the decision with confidence and objectivity.

There’s no doubt that when it comes to choosing the right staff, decision-makers can easily lose objectivity and find themselves in a compromising state of mind, especially as time passes and the need to fill the position becomes urgent. By partnering with a third party expert, you can help minimize (or mitigate) having to compromise, take shortcuts, miss opportunities, or make poor decisions. At Slingshot Group, our associates are proven professionals who have demonstrated great success in the ministries they’ve helped build within local churches and nonprofit organizations. They understand the ins and outs of the lanes of ministry in which they serve, because we believe it takes one to know one. It’s why we can’t help but coach both the candidate and the church along the way to help ensure the best hire possible—one that will last for the long haul. We feel that this unique trait is what helps us serve our clients best.

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HOW DOES SLINGSHOT GROUP MEASURE SUCCESS?

There are five measures of success we use to determine whether we’ve served our clients well in the search process. A successful staff search goes far beyond simply identifying and facilitating the hire—it’s more about what happens in the months and years to come. We believe the first 100 days are the most critical days of a new hire’s tenure, and it’s our aim to help them launch their ministry with their best foot forward. We know we’ve succeeded when our clients see the five following dynamics in their church as a result of a hire:

1. Immediate chemistry with staff and teams2. Improved team health3. Individual contribution to fuel the mission and vision forward4. Ministry area momentum5. Increased organizational capacity

LET THEM RUN WITH IT

After finding the right fit, negotiate terms tailored to the candidate—this is a great opportunity to be creative, by the way! It’s not just about the compensation package—there are other “perks” that prove valuable to a candidate that are non-monetary (for instance, airline vouchers donated by “million mile travelers”).

Once you make a hire, be sure to clarify the primary roles and responsibilities in light of the person’s unique qualities. It’s not unusual to adjust the roles and responsibilities in the original profile by as much as 30 percent once a great person has been identified. In some cases, larger churches are quick to hire great talent and then build a job description that’s tailor-made for that specific person. Once the person is dialed in to the role, give them a track to run on

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and let them run. Avoid over-management or micro-management. This drives the best people crazy—especially creatives. As long as expectations are clearly defined, highly capable and motivated people will figure it out along the way. In any situation, consistent, clear communication will help ensure success in not only the product, but the process along the way—especially within the first 100 days.

The art and science of finding the best people to hire can be daunting, just as it is when pursuing the “perfect mate.” It is not something that you can make happen, but you can determine the right conditions! Fostering a healthy, thriving environment will certainly increase your odds of being attractive to the kind of candidate you hope to hire. Approaching the process with both the right and left-brain fully engaged is a great start to finding the best people possible for your unique situation.

When hiring the best people, plan on investing your greatest resources—including time, relationships, wisdom, experience and money. Rarely will the “perfect hire” simply fall into your lap.

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CHAPTER 04NECESSARY ENDINGS

In 2011 Dr. Henry Cloud wrote his groundbreaking book Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships All of Us Have to Give up in Order to Move Forward. I have seen this book used by multiple churches and leaders to help navigate the often awkward and uncomfortable process of transitioning staff, whether for performance, restructuring, or other difficult situations. We begin his chapter here because endings are as necessary as beginnings, and because Dr. Cloud’s work has been instrumental in shaping and coaching our church partners as well as our own Slingshot Group team.

While hiring new talent to join your ministry team can be an exciting time for your church, firing is usually the complete opposite. There’s no doubt that firing staff was not something you signed up for when you decided to work in ministry, nor something that was ever taught in formal education.

Firing oftentimes goes hand-in-hand with hiring. The saying “be slow to hire, and quick to fire” rings true here. The best way to avoid firing someone is to hire the right candidates from the onset, making sure you have the right people in place who are ready to embrace inevitable change that accompanies working in forward-thinking ministries.

“Just as a parent needs to circle back with a child after discipline with love

and affirmation, so is the case with staff members who are fired.”

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But the fact of the matter is, these circumstances are rarely expected or within our capacity to control. At some point in time, you’ll have to face the fact that there are people on your team that need to move on. At that point, you can either shoot from the hip in a “ready, fire, aim” approach, or you can do it in a way that honors both God and the person being let go while preserving unity. Before you react and regret, I want to share some ways that you can be proactive in firing staff, leading to an overall better outcome for both parties involved.

DETERMINE YOUR REASONS

Do your homework. Pray and seek wisdom! This is more than a “gut thing.” Be sure you understand the facts of the matter and can defend your decision with objectivity, honesty and honor. Review the specific situations where the person veered off track. Is it a pattern where there are repeat “offenses” or is it a one-time case of poor judgment? Is it rooted in job performance or moral failing? Ideally, you or someone else will have documented the particulars of “the story.”

Assume nothing. Always get the facts. Verify the information provided. If staff reviews are a part of your culture, use these notes as something concrete from which you base your conclusions. If not, then refer back to the position profile and job description as the plumb line for “performance.” If the firing is due to moral compromise, listen well before jumping to conclusions so that the team member feels “heard.” Always speak the truth in love.

CONFIRM YOUR REASONING

Working in isolation can often leave us with a skewed perspective. By conferring with other trusted souls, we are able to separate the

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issues, including our own pride and possibly twisted perspective. Rely on a select, trusted few to confirm your decision to fire an individual—not just your spouse! Rely on Scripture and the Holy Spirit’s leading rather than an emotionally driven response. And finally, take the time you need to make a wise decision rather than jumping to conclusions and regretting your decision later. Too often, church leaders make hasty decisions when it comes to letting someone go.

THE BIG MEETING

How you prepare for this meeting can determine the end result. Know the facts, know the law, know the plan, and check your heart. Be specific in both the WHY and the HOW. Be concise as to the reasons for the firing. Give the person a clear path to run on for a dignified exit. Determine timeline, communication strategy, and financial plan, and put these in writing. Lead them with love and grace, grounded in truth. How you deliver this news cannot be underestimated! You’re not just a boss…you’re a pastor. Finally, determine in advance if a third party should be present.

MAKING THE DECISION “PUBLIC”…OR NOT

It is beneficial to make a public (congregational) announcement to the degree that the person has served in a public ministry. If sin or moral failing is a factor in the release, it becomes more complicated. Follow a scriptural course, but avoid over-spiritualizing the facts and missing out on the opportunity to keep it real. Keep the news brief, concise, and as general as possible (without sugar coating) if it’s advantageous to make the story public. Spinning the facts to protect “the innocent” can easily backfire.

Informing staff prior to the congregation is, under most circumstances,

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more beneficial and usually the desire of the person being released.Depending on the circumstances, you may include the staff person in the staff announcement and give them their “moment” to say goodbye, confess their sin, or say nothing and be prayed for. This is a delicate situation sure to tap your discernment gift! Seek counsel from the wise along the way.

FOLLOW UP TILL IT HURTS

Just as a parent needs to circle back with a child after discipline with love and affirmation, so is the case with staff members who are fired. Realize this is a defining moment not only in their spiritual course but in their professional career. If a formal restoration process is appropriate, lean in hard to the situation, building the right path to set them up for a redemptive end result. Then, circle back regularly with the person until the process is finished. It’s far too common to see church leaders initially lean in with loving concern, only to turn their backs on the brother or sister within a few weeks by cutting off all communication.

Finally, consider the firing process as an opportunity to reflect on what you learned from the experience. Tune into the leadership of your church and determine what could be done better to prevent similar stories in the future. What aspect of your church structure, management, communication, or related factors in play could have led to the firing? Was it an initial hiring selection issue? A personality or culture-related concern? A lack of leadership or pastoral oversight? A problem with successfully performing job responsibilities? Whatever the case, take some time to debrief with your leadership team and determine whether changes in certain structures of your church, especially your hiring strategy, could be improved to avoid a similar outcome.

Firing is a tender subject for many church leaders. But good

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stewardship of the role and responsibility God has called leaders to demands that we ask, “What is best for the church?” Seek God’s wisdom in handling these matters with grace and compassion.

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CONCLUSIONSP IR IT-LED, RELAT IONSHIP-DRIVEN

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S T A F F I N G S M A R T S C O N C L U S I O N

The goal of every healthy church is to glorify God in all that they do, building up disciples and impacting their community by being God’s “hands and feet” so that they can reach beyond their borders. And while most churches have a vision for how they expect to see that happen, it’s essential they also have the right leadership and staff to see the vision through. Hiring plays a huge factor in facilitating a vibrant, growing ministry that will uphold that vision. Therefore, hiring well must become a vital piece of the conversation for any church that wants to see its vision come to fruition.

We cannot underestimate the weight that accompanies the building of a ministry team to lead God’s church. Pay careful attention to what God may be trying to speak into your hiring process, and trust that He will put the right leadership into place. When it comes time to close the door on a hire, offer an abundance of love and grace.

The hiring process takes preparation; it’s both an art and a science, relational and process-driven. But ultimately, hiring and firing is Spirit-led. Alongside fostering relationships and getting to know potential hires on a deeper level, we must also allow God to lead us through as we engage in prayer and allow ourselves to be directed by His leading. These are the keys to finding top talent that will take your church to the next level.

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S T A F F I N G S M A R T S A B O U T T H E A U T H O R

Monty Kelso is the President/Staffing Lead at Slingshot Group, and a nationally recognized coach and curator of modern worship. He’s a savvy practitioner with an entrepreneurial spirit and ultra-relational approach, and is as pragmatic as he is inspirational and visionary. Under his guidance, many churches have attained new levels of relevancy in their creative arts ministries, and have earned reputations for being highly culturally engaged within their communities. Monty and his wife, Christa, live in Dana Point, CA.

Connect with Monty at [email protected].

copyright (c) 2016 by slingshot group. · as a church leader, i’m sure you know how intimidating...

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