Book Review: When the Word Leads Your Pastoral Search by Chris Brauns

Moody Publishers has just released When the Word Leads Your Pastoral Search by Chris Brauns (192 pages, 2011). Brauns is the senior pastor at the Congregational Christian Church of Stillman Valley, IL. He is a graduate of Grand Rapids Theological Seminary (M.Div) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (D.Min).

This book is a book that helps provide search committees with the necessary tools, resources and knowledge needed to effectively lead a search committee and call a pastor. Simply put, there are numerous search committees that are simply at a loss of direction in their dealings with pastoral candidates. It can create a tremendous amount of frustration both for the pastor and the church.

When search committees do not have a set of objective and biblical criteria to focus on, they tend to focus on the subjective and then they gravitate towards the minor issues of the pastor and ministry. Pragmatic concerns then guide the process rather than the biblical criteria for pastoral ministry.

The book is broken down into three segments. Part 1: It's Not What You Know, Part 2: Judge, Lest You Be Judged, Part 3: Make Those Dates (Interviews) Count.

Part 1: It's Not What You Know

Brauns starts off the book pointing out how the pastoral candidating process mirrors the dating process in every stage. He points out the need for churches to not have so high of expectations where they are looking for the next great Christian leader. Most pastors will not be prolific authors, conference speakers, or supervise a large staff. Brauns points out how churches should be seeking a modest pastor.

First and foremost of importance to the search committee is prayer. The church needs to be praying for the search committee. And the search committee needs to be praying throughout the entire process of the pastoral search. Brauns gives helpful and practical suggestions on what to pray for and how to pray for the next pastor and the pastoral search committee. He points out, "Imagine how earnestly you or I would pray if we found ourselves pinned by Pharaoh's massive army against the Red Sea. It is this same sort of urgency in prayer that we need to bring to the search for a pastor (p.31)."

Brauns further highlights the central thesis of the book of forming a Word-centered search committee. He writes, "This priority on being Word-centered is one that must be pursued for churches looking for a pastor. In calling a pastor, your church's first and foremost responsibility is to form a Word-centered pastoral search committee (p. 37)."

The foundation for a successful pastoral search committee will stem from the foundation of one that is rooted and grounded in God's Word. This will in turn yield a pastor who is devoted to the preaching of God's Word above all else.

The book also has a chapter on Unity, chapter 3. This is a vital and essential ingredient to having a healthy and successful pastoral search committee. Brauns highlights the biblical importance of unity. If the pastoral search committee and the church are not in unity, it could bring about disaster in the search process. He offers practical exercises for making sure the search committee has unity with a central gospel focus.

Brauns further offers suggestions for a church in creating a profile about the church and the community to give to the pastoral candidate.

Throughout Part 1, Brauns highlights the importance of search committees to be Word-centered, humble and teachable, discerning, diligent, and persevering.

Part 2: Judge, Lest You Be Judged

Brauns biblically explains what exactly a pastor is and what his role is. He explains how a pastor is a shepherd. He engages the readers in all that is involved in shepherding and leading a flock. He does an excellent job of explaining the nature of pastoral care.

In this section Brauns spends several chapters explaining and defining expository preaching. He points out how some churches just focus on the "splash" of the preacher in a similar way some focus on the "splash" a swimmer makes when diving. He masterfully explains what makes a good preacher "good." He explains the details of expository preaching while pointing out how to effectively critique a candidate's preaching.

This is important because this is what the search committee should be focusing on with candidates yet it is not uncommon for search committees to ask only a couple of questions about preaching to the candidate. It would be like a hospital hiring a surgeon yet only asking the surgeon one or two questions about surgery. Yet this very same thing is going on with search committees and preachers.

Pastoral search committees will find helpful the excellent charts that Brauns has in the book to use when evaluating the pastoral candidate's preaching.

Part 3: Make Those Dates (Interviews) Count

Brauns discusses the pastoral interviewing process in this part of the book. He offers suggestions on questions to ask of the candidate and offers different tips on how to handle the interview. He also points out that the interview stage is a two-way street. The candidate is also interviewing the church.

What I especially appreciated about this section is how Brauns points out that some candidates do not always handle questions correctly but that does not automatically mean they would make a poor pastor. Search committees need to use discernment when fielding questions while recognizing this.

Brauns also offer numerous pages of suggested questions to ask the candidate. Search committees will find these questions helpful.

Brauns also has a section listing what the most common mistakes are that churches make in the candidating process. Included in this section of the book is a discussion on the pastor's compensation package.

Conclusion

This book is an excellent resource that I highly recommend. I think this book should be in the library of every church. I also recommend every pastor get a copy of it as well. Brauns has masterfully woven into this book critical concepts of pastoral ministry that search committees need to understand when hiring a pastor. Nothing is more important than a church putting together a pastoral search committee and then for that search committee to go and seek God's man for their church. Effective search committees demand a lot of time and energy from the committee members. Many are busy with their jobs and family. Resources like this book will help save time for the committee by helping focus on core biblical issues related to finding a pastor. This book will also help search committees avoid making common mistakes.


Special thanks to the kind folks at Moody Publishers for this review copy.