Many people don’t think of California as an overly “Christian” state, but even though it’s not anywhere near the Bible Belt, it definitely has it share of Christians and Christian churches. It’s hard to say exactly how many churches are in the state, but it’s estimated that there are more than 15 million Christians in California, according to the U.S. Religion Census. There are plenty of denominational churches in California, but the state also has a large amount of independent, … [Read more...]
VitalChurch Ministry - Blog Posts by Author
VitalChurch Interim Pastor Finishes Up Successful Intentional Interim Period in Massachusetts Church
Another intentional interim period just came to an end for one of our VitalChurch interim pastors. Gregg Caruso, VitalChurch Managing Partner, spent 20 months at Christ Community Church (CCC) in East Taunton, Massachusetts. CCC was experiencing a time of transition following the departure of the Lead Pastor. CCC had also experienced significant staff turnover and there was mounting conflict within the elder board. CCC contacted VitalChurch and after a few months of vetting various transitional … [Read more...]
Annual Interim Pastor Training Seminar a Success!
Last month, VitalChurch Ministry completed a very successful interim pastor training seminar. This three-day event held in Orlando, Florida was attended by 20 individuals from around the country, belonging to various denominations. The seminar was led by two of VitalChurch’s experienced interim pastors, Dave Miles and Gregg Caruso, who have also produced some of the leading resources on interim pastoring, which are used all over the world. More than just a series of lectures by VitalChurch’s … [Read more...]
VitalChurch UK Obtains Charity Status for Their Church Revitalization Ministry
VitalChurch is excited to announce that the UK chapter of our ministry has officially been granted charity status in the UK! If you recall, we announced last July that VitalChurch had become an independent nonprofit charitable organization in the US, and now our UK division has obtained a similar status (the UK version of a nonprofit organization). A Little History About VitalChurch UK VitalChurch UK was birthed out of a lunch meeting between VitalChurch founding partner Dave Miles and the … [Read more...]
Serving as Interim Pastors in Denominational Churches: It’s All About Communication
At VitalChurch we work with all types of churches—small, large, rural, urban, and also with churches from many different denominations. Some of the denominations that we have a great working relationship with include the Christian and Missionary Alliance and the Evangelical Presbyterian Churches. In the last year, we’ve also worked with member churches from denominations such as Brethren, Converge (formerly Baptist General Conference), and the Evangelical Free Church of America. We love … [Read more...]
VitalChurch’s Approach to Transitioning from an Interim Pastor to a New Permanent Senior Pastor
Transitions can be tough. Very few people like change, and those in churches are no different. Hiring an interim pastor to help transition from one lead pastor to the next can help “soften the blow,” but even transitioning from an interim pastor to a new senior pastor can be tough. People get used to a certain style of leadership and preaching, and sometimes the “new” can feel “wrong.” At VitalChurch, our interim pastors know that transition is difficult, and they do everything they can to … [Read more...]
If We Like Our Interim Pastor, Can He Stay on and Be Our New Permanent Pastor?
VitalChurch Ministry has placed many interim pastors in churches around the country, and some even in other parts of the world. Our interim pastors take churches through an in-depth process of church revitalization where they help churches get to the heart of their issues and address them. They also help guide churches in the direction in which God is leading, and none of this is a simple or fast process. Typically, our interim pastors stay in churches for more than a year. It goes without … [Read more...]
VitalChurch’s Ministry Assessments Provide Churches with a Mirror and a Map
Most people tend to think of our organization as one that provides interim pastor ministries to churches who find themselves without a senior pastor. That’s a large part of what we do, but another big part of our organization is conducting ministry assessments. Undergoing a ministry assessment can provide your church with valuable insight into the life of your church, and it also gives members of your congregation an opportunity to be heard. If you’re a leader in a church—either an elder or … [Read more...]
Why Does the Church Need Interim Pastor Ministries
If you’ve been a part of a church for any length of time—on staff, on a board of elders, as a volunteer, or just as a member of the congregation—you have probably experienced a period when your church faced some sort of transition or crisis involving your church’s leadership. It could have been that your pastor left (or was asked to leave) in an abrupt manner, or that he passed away unexpectedly. Whatever the specific circumstances were surrounding this event, it likely left you and other … [Read more...]
New Service from VitalChurch Ministry: Pastoral Search Assistance
As we’ve served around the country and around the world as interim pastors, one of the things we often do during our tenure in a church is assist them in the search for their next interim pastor. We’ve spoken a little bit about this before in this blog post. We talked about how churches can find the most success in their pastoral search and how we can come alongside churches to help facilitate the process. Since that blog post was published, we’ve decided to make pastoral search assistance an … [Read more...]
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