Earlier this year, VitalChurch Ministry put on our annual interim pastor training event, and we wanted to give you an update on how it went! In short, it was a very successful event, attended by some amazing church leaders and denominational leaders with a desire to learn more about what it means to be an interim pastor and how to lead a church through a transition period.
For the last several years, we have been holding our annual interim pastor training event online via Zoom. We started doing this during the pandemic, but we have continued to do so ever since. Attendees have expressed that they like the convenience of being able to participate in the training sessions from their homes or offices and can save quite a bit of time and money not having to travel to an in-person event. We work hard to continue to make the training as engaging as it would be if it were still held in person. We include Q&A sessions with the presenters and breakout rooms, as well as other opportunities for interaction among participants and presenters throughout the training.
Several of VitalChurch Ministry’s seasoned interim pastors and staff members led sessions during the four-day training event, including Pastors Gregg Caruso, Dave Miles, Tom Wilkins, and Wade Thompson. We also had sessions conducted by some guest presenters, including pastor, professor, and author Jeff Arthurs, and author and leadership coach Keith Webb. A few of the topics that were covered during the course of the event included:
- Unholy Trinity: Idolatry, Conflict & Power
- Transition Teams & Training Leaders
- Change & Problem Solving
- Discipleship Pathways
- The Theology of Intervention
- Best Practices for Interim Pastors
Each participant was also given a hard copy of VitalChurch Ministry’s Interim Pastor Training Manual. In our follow-up survey, several attendees commented that they were excited to receive this valuable resource that they could use in their ministries going forward. One attendee commented, “The workbook is a robust treasure trove!” Attendees also commented that while they appreciated the immense amount of practical wisdom they were presented with during the sessions, they especially loved our pastors’ emphasis on gospel-centered teaching as the key way of ministering to churches in transition.
Some of the other comments we received in our follow-up survey were:
“I would highly recommend [the training] for any pastor potentially considering interim ministry.”
“Not only is [the training] a good intro to what an Interim Pastor does, but helps with what a healthy church should look like and be…thank you!”
“[The training is] good for anyone interested in helping the church become closer followers of Jesus.”
Our plan is to hold an interim pastor training event every February, so if you missed this one, be sure to catch next year’s training event. However, we are open to scheduling additional trainings if the demand is there. If you are a denominational leader looking to conduct a training session (either in-person or online) for the interim pastors that serve the churches in your denomination, we can set up a special training event just for them. Contact us to discuss details.