Looking at Dr. Clark's great posts on open pulpits from both the side of the candidate and the particular church and picking up from my and others posts in Seb's thread I want to ask a couple of questions.

1) How picky should a church be in looking for a Pastor?

2) How picky should a Pastor be in discerning a call?

3) How picky can a church be in looking for a Pastor?

4) How picky can a Pastor be in discerning a call?

__________________
Benjamin P. Glaser, M. Div, Licentiate, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
Member Fairmount ARP Church
Pittsburgh, PA

Deo Vindice

Another question I thought of after posting especially for candidates (both already ordained and those certified to look for a first call).

1) How much should temporal concerns (location, distance from immediate family, money, etc...) factor into the decision making process when looking at a particular open pulpit/call?

See if this gets any comments the second time around...

How picky CAN the pastor or church be???

Supply and demand. If there are extra quality candidates, if the church is of a desirable size (whatever that means) and in a choice location (same as before), then it CAN be amazingly picky. If the church is desperate, unattractive in size and location, and the feeder denomination(s) has a shortage of pastors available for a move, then the candidate CAN be picky.

If you ask the "should" questions, then the answers would be different. You Reformed brothers evidently pay a LOT more than Baptists do. However, a mindset that says we want the best candidate for the lowest compensation possible is of the pit. I accumulated a crushing load of debt trying to take a "spiritual" attitude toward the protestations of what my early congregations could/would pay. 31 years ago (I know, it is a long time, but not THAT long), my first salary/housing out of seminary was $7,500 for a 50-60 hour position. Even today, several of my friends could never afford to be a full time pastor without a nicely paid working wife, particularly in So. Cal where even "fixer uppers" were costing a fortune!

__________________
Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

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Like to see some more comments...