Another ability that many pastors have not acquired is casting a vision. Although “the vision thing” is often the subject of satire among ministers, a church suffers if the pastor is not able to align the staff and people and move them toward a goal that they all can embrace or at least accept!

In his book, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful,” Marshall Goldsmith points out that certain skills may enable a person to reach a specific level of responsibility, but those same skills will not necessarily carry that person to the next level of leadership.

In fact, those skills may get in the way. This came to mind as I reflected recently on the situation that many pastors find themselves in.

Some senior pastors are in “over their heads.” A certain skill set has carried them to places of senior leadership, but they often find themselves stymied as they attempt to lead at that level of responsibility.

Most pastors in Baptist life start in smaller congregations and move to larger ones.

As they move from church to church, the number of parishioners increases, the staff becomes more numerous, the facilities become larger, the budget grows.

The minister who was called to increasingly larger churches due to good pulpit skills and the ability to get along with the people in the pew suddenly (it seems) finds himself or herself with major administrative and leadership responsibilities that require a different set of skills than those that got the pastor there.

There are exceptions, of course. Some ministers have the opportunity to serve in a staff position as an associate pastor, minister of Christian education or minister to students and gain experience working in a larger church, but this is not always seen as the kind of experience needed to pastor a church.

These folks are often passed over by a pastor search committee because they have not been “the” pastor of a church.

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