As VitalChurch Ministry continues to reach more churches in need, we have been growing our team in response. More interim pastors have been hired and trained and sent out to churches throughout the country. Our staff and volunteer team have been expanded and people already within the organization are taking on new responsibilities. We’d like to introduce you to two women who have recently taken on key leadership roles in our organization. The first is Rosemary Lukens, who was named as a … [Read more...]
VitalChurch Ministry - Blog Posts by Author
Why Does a Church Need an Intentional Interim Pastor?
In one of our recent blog posts, we talked about exactly what an intentional interim pastor is, and what it isn’t, according to VitalChurch Ministry. It was a great post for those looking to get a better understanding of interim pastor ministry and how churches can benefit from it. In this blog post, we wanted to dive a little deeper into the subject and discuss the situations in which a church might consider using an intentional interim pastor. When There’s an Unexpected Vacancy in the Lead … [Read more...]
A Follow-Up to Our Year-End Fundraising Campaign
If you follow this blog or are on our email list, you probably heard about our year-end fundraising campaign. To end the year 2020, we were looking to raise $25,000 for our Compassion Grant Fund, which directly supports churches who need the services that VitalChurch provides, but are unable to afford the full cost of those services. In the past, Compassion Grants have been given to churches to help them pay for diagnostic assessments, as well as our interim pastor services. We established our … [Read more...]
What Is an Interim Pastor?
As our team travels the country working with churches, we’ve found that not everyone has the same idea of what an interim pastor is and does. Of course, they have a general idea, just based on the name, but there are some variations on the types of pastors who serve in churches without a permanent lead pastor. We thought we’d take some time in this blog post to clear up some of the confusion surrounding phrases such as “interim pastor,” “intentional interim pastor,” “transitional pastor,” and … [Read more...]
Year-End Giving Campaign for VitalChurch Ministry’s Compassion Grant Fund
DONATE VitalChurch Ministry is excited to announce the launch of our 2020 year-end giving campaign! As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the generosity of donors to help fund our organization and ask that you prayerfully consider a year-end donation to VitalChurch. The majority of the recurring charitable donations we receive throughout the year go to funding the salaries for our interim pastors when they’re in between assignments—when they’re either on sabbatical, spending their time … [Read more...]
Interim Pastors Gregg Caruso and Dave Miles Interviewed for Vanderbloemen Podcast
Recently, two of our interim pastors, Gregg Caruso and Dave Miles, appeared on the Vanderbloemen Leadership podcast. They were interviewed by Sarah Robins, VP of Sales and Client Relations at Vanderbloemen. Vanderbloemen is an organization based in Houston, Texas that works with churches around the country on succession planning and executive staffing. Over the years, the work of VitalChurch Ministry and Vanderbloemen have overlapped more than once. On several occasions, Vanderbloemen has … [Read more...]
New Survey Helps Churches Navigate the COVID-19 Situation
As your church navigates the legalities related the COVID-19 crisis, there are also concerns about how your congregation is faring and how you as a church can support those who are struggling. We hate to use the overused phrase, “These are unprecedented times,” but they truly are. None of us in church leadership has likely dealt with anything like this. Church leaders and staff members are all doing the best they can to navigate this crisis, but in the absence of face-to-face interactions and … [Read more...]
Interim Pastors That Help Churches Make Hard but Necessary Changes
One of the things we hear over and over from church leaders and congregation members at the churches in which we’ve served is that the VitalChurch process is not an easy one. However, that is almost always immediately followed by them saying something like, “But it was what we needed to do and we are a better church for having gone through the process.” Very few people like change—churches are no different. Change can be hard, especially when there are people within the church who are … [Read more...]
Rochester Church Reflects on Their Time with VitalChurch Interim Pastors
Last month, VitalChurch interim pastor Dave Miles concluded his time at Christ Community Church (CCC) in Rochester, Minnesota. When VitalChurch arrived, the church was still reeling from the loss of their longtime lead pastor. There was a lot of grief and conflict associated with his resignation, and the 1,000-plus-member church was having a difficult time discerning how to move forward. After going through VitalChurch’s diagnostic assessment, which revealed the issues the church was facing, … [Read more...]
Do We Need an Interim Pastor if We Have Someone We Can Promote from Within?
This is a question that should be asked much more often than it actually is. Churches often mistakenly think that the best route after a lead pastor leaves is to promote a pastor who is already on staff to the vacant position. On the surface, this seems to make sense. There will be little or no “downtime” from one lead pastor to the next. The congregation is likely already familiar and comfortable with the current staff member. He can hit the ground running, since he will already have an … [Read more...]