Giving seems to always be a touchy subject in churches. Churches need money to keep their doors open and their staff paid, but pastors are often reticent to teach on giving, possibly because they don’t want to be lumped in with those notorious televangelists (and others) who have exploited the Bible’s teachings on stewardship for their own personal gain, or simply because it’s an uncomfortable topic to bring up. If regular giving is something your church struggles with—and as interim pastors, … [Read more...]
Latest News & Insights
Our Approach to Preaching and Teaching as Interim Pastors
The gospel: it’s a term that’s taken on a meaning in certain Christian circles that’s not quite complete. These days, when people talk about “sharing the gospel,” they are usually referring to “witnessing,” with the goal of bringing someone to a place of acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Savior. And while the gospel is the good news that brings about salvation, it is able to do so much more than that! As Gregg Caruso, one of our VitalChurch interim pastors, says, “The word gospel means good … [Read more...]
VitalChurch’s Church Health Assessments Reveal Most Common Areas of Struggle for Churches
We talk a lot on our website about our biblically based, three-phase process of church revitalization. It’s really what sets VitalChurch Ministry apart from other organizations and individuals providing interim pastor services to churches, and it has served churches well for many years. The process always begins with a church health assessment, which we call a “diagnostic analysis” or “diagnostic assessment.” We’ve refined this assessment over many years, creating a tool that gives a church … [Read more...]
VitalChurch Interim Pastor Concludes His Time at King’s Harbor Church in Southern California
King’s Harbor Church in Torrance, California was a church not unlike many of the churches VitalChurch Ministry works with. The 19-year old church had experienced a couple of major setbacks, and in early 2015, the church found itself without a senior pastor. Fortunately for King’s Harbor, seven pastors from neighboring churches stepped in to serve as temporary elders in those first critical weeks. Shortly thereafter, those pastors contacted Pastor Gregg Caruso. Gregg, one of the interim … [Read more...]
After the Interim Pastor Leaves: What Our Follow-Up Phase Looks Like
As you look around our website, you’ll read a lot about our three-phase process of church revitalization, which includes a church assessment (the diagnostic phase), the interim pastor phase, and the follow-up phase. When church leaders call or email us to talk about our services, they don’t often ask about the third phase—follow up—but it is a very important part of our process. Usually, when someone from a church contacts us, it is because their church is in some sort of crisis or in a … [Read more...]
Using Titus 1:5 as a Guide for Interim Pastor Ministry
Our last blog post centered on the biblical support for an intentional interim pastor. We referenced the book of Titus, and specifically Titus 1:5, which says, “The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.” Titus 1:5 is a verse we often reference internally at VitalChurch Ministry because it offers us six things to keep in mind when we are serving as interim pastors and working with churches in … [Read more...]
Is There Scriptural Support for the Role of an Interim Pastor?
At VitalChurch Ministry, we believe we are called to the work of serving as interim pastors in Christian churches around the world. Scripture obviously supports the role of pastors, but what about interim pastors? What does the Bible have to say about them? While the term “interim pastor” is not used directly in scripture, there are passages that support the concept of an interim pastor, and that help guide the work we do in struggling churches around the world. Nehemiah: The First Interim … [Read more...]
VitalChurch Interim Pastors Bringing Revitalization to Church in England
Churches in every part of the world experience times of transition or crisis. And while VitalChurch’s team of interim pastors is largely based in the United States, we have worked with churches worldwide. Churches in other parts of the world can look very different from our own, but they experience many of the same struggles, especially in the absence of a permanent senior pastor. Recently, VitalChurch Ministry was contacted by a church in the Newcastle area of England. Their senior pastor … [Read more...]
An Interim Pastor’s Guide to Leading a Church Staff Meeting
As intentional interim pastors, we’ve led our fair share of church staff meetings over the years. And while there is no one “right way” to conduct them, we have come up with some tips that we feel can be easily implemented, and that also make for better staff meetings. We call the list “The Five Ds of Leading a Staff Meeting, “ and we think it can serve as a handy guide for any pastor who regularly leads meetings attended by church staff members. It can also give you a little glimpse into how … [Read more...]
VitalChurch Website Takes Home Two Honors in the 2016 MarCom Awards
A few months ago, we unveiled VitalChurch Ministry’s new website. We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out and how it articulates our ministry as intentional interim pastors to churches in transition or crisis. We are now pleased to report that the judges at the MarCom Awards have found our website worthy of two Honorable Mention awards in the 2016 competition. We received one award for website design in the Nonprofit category, and another for the website’s copy in the Web Content … [Read more...]