An Enduring Gift at the Heart of Ministry: How One Church Honored Their Longtime Pastor
Dec 4, 2024
WORK LOCATION
On-SiteJOB TYPE
Full TimeSALARY
Determined Upon HireLANGUAGE
EnglishMINISTRY AREA
WorshipDENOMINATION
Baptist (SBC)Redeeming Grace Church, founded in 1979, is a multi-generational and multi-ethnic church of around 400 members located in Fairfax, VA in the suburbs of Washington DC. We are a reformed, Baptist, complementarian, continuationist, congregational, plurality of elders-led church. Our affiliation is with the Pillar Network (a subgroup within the Southern Baptist Convention). You can find more details about our vision, mission, values, and statement of faith at our website: https://rgcfairfax.org/about-rgc.
Our leadership consists of three staff (i.e., paid full-time) elders/pastors (we use the terms interchangeably) and seven non-staff (i.e., volunteer) elders/pastors. Our three current staff elders primarily lead in preaching/teaching, community life, and executive leadership. Our non-staff elders lead in various areas of ministry such as our youth ministry, children’s ministry, career-aged ministry, facilities, church planting, etc. We are a plurality of elders congregational church, meaning that we believe Christ expresses his authority in our church through the elders with the church members. In general, important decisions at our church are made by all staff and non-staff elders together, with the input and affirmation vote of our members.
SUMMARY: We are seeking a pastor/elder for our worship and tech ministry. Our worship and tech ministry (which includes the music band, sound, projection, and video teams) is comprised of around 50 volunteers who serve to lead our congregation in musical worship each Sunday morning. Our church is committed to Word-driven, God-centered, Christ-exalting congregational worship that integrates both old and new songs to create dynamic, engaging, and biblical musical worship sets each Sunday. A strong candidate for this role should meet all the Biblical qualifications for eldership (1 Tim. 3:2-7; Titus 1:5-9), should have discerned a call to vocational ministry, should have substantial experience in leading a worship team, and (preferably) have seminary training. The candidate should also be fully aligned with our vision, mission, values, and statement of faith, and be comfortable or have experience in working on a shared leadership team (i.e., joining the team of staff and non-staff elders to work collaboratively in all areas of ministry). You can watch the following two videos for a sample of what our Sunday morning worship looks and sounds like (please note that our livestream quality is limited, compared to the in-person service): 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kchQ3oWEvi8&t=11m46s 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-aprEzX4cQ&t=750s
SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES: • Cast vision for and lead the worship and tech ministry to impart in our congregation a heart of worship both on Sunday mornings and beyond • Plan and lead the musical worship set for our weekly Sunday worship service (in collaboration with other volunteer worship leaders), usually consisting of around six songs per week with a full band (i.e., 2-4 vocalists, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboard, bass, and drum kit) • Lead weekly Thursday evening rehearsals that prepare for Sunday, cultivate Christ-centered community, and nurture and develop musical gifts in the congregation • Work with the pastors and staff to choose songs and design worship services that intentionally reflect themes from the teaching and preaching and engage the congregation • Model and lead heartfelt worship in an invitational style that draws people in, encourages participation, and points people to Jesus • Recruit, teach, train, mentor, and provide spiritual guidance to musicians with a wide range of ages and skill levels in the church • Serve as a key member of the leadership team at RGC, demonstrating a commitment to this congregation and its mission.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS: • Education: Bachelor’s degree in Christian ministry, musical arts, or a related field (seminary degree preferred) • Several years of experience in congregational worship ministry for a band of a similar size (i.e., 4-9 band members) • Has demonstrated musical expertise in vocals (preferably with a range of 1.5 octaves or greater) and at least one musical instrument (preferably acoustic guitar or keyboard), with sufficient musical knowledge in most instruments, music theory, complex song arrangements, etc. to be able to train and lead a band with varying levels of expertise • Has a working knowledge of the technology required for Sunday worship services, including but not limited to IEMs, a digital soundboard (20-30 channels), live audio engineering (AVID Pro Tools), video live streaming, and ProPresenter • Demonstrated ability to lead, coordinate, schedule, and motivate a large team of volunteers serving 1-2 times per month across our various worship and tech roles • Full agreement with the doctrinal statements of RGC as outlined here: https://rgcfairfax.org/about-rgc • Exemplifies the character expectations for eldership (see 1 Tim. 3:2-7; Titus 1:5-9). We anticipate that this position will be combined with pastoral responsibilities in other ministries in our church (e.g., pastoral care, evangelism, community life ministries) to make this a full-time role. However, we are also open to making a part-time hire depending on the situation. Please indicate in your cover letter if you are interested in a full-time or part-time role, and if the former, please describe some other areas of experience and gifting that you have in pastoral ministry.
To apply, please complete the application form here: https://rgcfairfax.org/careers or reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions. In addition to your application online, please email [email protected] with links to two videos: (1) you singing a worship song and playing an instrument solo acoustic and unplugged (2) you leading a full band in worship on a Sunday morning in a church setting. Thank you for your interest!