Music Minister Search Team

Well, we do not have a minister of music and worship - yet.

We do believe that God is leading us and has something special in store.

The purpose of this video is to share a bit on what we’ve been doing – and what we believe the next steps are.

God is faithful. He always leads us and provides for us. Sometimes, however, He leads us in new ways – with methods that we haven’t experienced before. I think of the many ways Jesus healed people. Sometimes with just a word or command, sometimes with a touch, sometimes in person, sometimes from a distance, and sometimes with washing or anointing. He always brings healing – but it often comes through very different means.

God is still leading us – but it has become clear that something fundamental has
changed in the way churches find talented ministers and staff. The old methods aren’t working. You could point to Covid, technology, or just changing culture – but our experience has made it very clear it’s time for something new.

A bit of history:
Previous search teams have generally followed a straightforward process:
1. Using church surveys, job descriptions, and discussions with church
members and staff, the team develops a set of criteria for the search – the
things the church wants in a minister in that role.
2. Post the job description – usually for 30 to 60 days.
3. Process the applications
4. Present a candidate

And that worked – in the past…

Using this methodology, previous search teams have received significant numbers of potential candidates within a few weeks – ranging from 100 to over 350 applications, with many qualified candidates in the mix.

After 8 months, this search team has received only 33 applications. We pursued
those that had any relevant music ministry experience. Of those, some chose
to withdraw from considerations, and others did not meet the qualifications we
believe are essential for this important role in our church.

And to be clear, this search team, with the help of Pastor Dustin, has been extremely aggressive in soliciting applications:

~ Posting twice with five SBC Seminaries
~ Posting twice with Truett Seminary
~ Posting twice with BGCT/Texas Baptists
~ Posting three times with the SBC
~ Posting for 10 weeks in the Baptist Standard
~ Personally contacting numerous ministry leaders, pastors, and individuals in
Texas and beyond

This isn’t working.

So, where do we go from here?

We’ve met with the Personnel Team to look at ways other churches are finding qualified candidates for ministerial roles – and the consistent thing we’ve found is that churches are using professional recruiting firms to fill these roles.

This will be a new experience for us.

The Personnel Team reached out to multiple ministry leaders and identified several firms that ministries and churches have used successfully. After researching these firms, Personnel found one that stood out.

That firm has already been analyzing our church and we will be meeting with their
consultant soon to formally begin the process.

The recruiting firm has indicated that this process will take five to seven months. They expect the results to produce multiple strong candidates.

We are optimistic about this. While it may not be the way we’ve done things in the past, we believe that this is the right thing to do for this search.

We are your search team. Please reach out with any questions or concerns. We’ll
continue to share more information about the process and our progress as we move forward.

Please continue to pray. The music ministry at FBCRR is special. We are committed to seeing that it continues to be a hallmark of our church.

We are looking forward to what God is leading us to do.

Music Minister Search Team:
Barbara Alarcon
Kay Vanlandingham
Katie Pyles
Joanna Knighten
Mark Berry
Chris Bobo
Courtney Shuman