A number of people have asked me my opinions on our church and one of the people we're looking at as a candidate. Here are my random thoughts on a what Crossroads needs in a pastor. I’ve spent the past six weeks really seeking God on this stuff and trying to really listen to what he has to say. This is a combination of what God’s been telling me and my own opinion, but I’m not sure how to differentiate the two. Disclaimer: This are my opinions in part, I don't know much and I could very well be completely wrong. There's nothing here that I haven't shared with people who've asked. My opinion is a work in progress, open to what God's telling me, open to feedback and this is my first pass at putting it all in one place. This isn't well written and probably not even well thought out.

To understand what I’m thinking about a pastor, I think I first need to understand who we’re called to reach and THEN how we plan on reaching them. If Crossroads is going to be like every other church in the community, I believe we might as well close up shop. It’s going to be too hard of a road ahead for us to be just another church that targets the 40 to 60 year olds of South Lyon in the same old way everyone else does it. I want to be a part of a church that understands the world around it and leverages that to create disciples of Jesus. I want to be a part of a church that focuses on young people (15 – 35) yet has an older generation with a mission mindset for the youth and as a church body is known for loving people well. If there’s an older generation that enjoys that, they are welcome to the community, but I believe too much of the Church as a whole focuses on the old and not the young. I don’t believe that we as a church can just focus on people as a whole and be extremely effective. It doesn’t work in business and it doesn’t work in churches. You have to pick a focus and do it well. I’ve always loved the fact that I could invite my neighbors and know that they wouldn’t feel awkward, but that they would see that the church is different than the stuffy, irrelevant church they may have experienced in the past.

In a pastor, I want someone with mindset for outreach, who values deep, authentic community and who can communicate with the target audience that I’ve referenced above. That’s way more than just speaking biblical messages. They need to understand how people with modern and post-modern mindsets process information, process their faith, and process Truth. They need to be a student of the culture and a student of the word – and have the ability to relate one to the other. We need to have someone who loves others well – no matter what they look like, what kind of sin they bring to the table or where they’re at in their spiritual journey. Beyond that, of course they need to fit into all of the biblical guidelines laid out for a pastor – that’s a given. Ideally, I’d like to see someone with a Youth Pastor background and all that brings to the table in terms of understanding the world, communicating that to our focal point, relating to tough to love people and possessing a relevance - all while not taking themselves too seriously.

I think the current candidate is a great person with a passion, a heart for the unlovable and the lost and an understanding of the world around him. He seems like he’d be a good traditional Shepard for this church and where it’s at, because of who's left. His teachings don’t seem relevant or effective at communicating in a way that post-moderns can hear them. I’ve talked to a number of people who’ve actually been offended at some of HOW he presents his perspectives and HOW he’s shared them; things about women, paraplegics and children. I’ve talked to probably 20 different people about their opinions of him and their seems to be a dividing line after age 40 or so on who connects with him and who doesn’t. When I hear a teaching, I like it to stick with me for the following week as I gnaw on it and process it. His’s teachings haven’t done that.

The gaps: To be fair to him, I haven't heard all of his teaching and I've only spent about 90 minutes with the guy.I haven't seen him in a leadership capacity or a sheparding capacity, I really have very little to go on in all of this.

Again, I could be way off base. These thoughts are a work in progress.