When the Right Church and the Right Minister Find Each Other, Everybody Wins
A small committee of people in the College of Biblical Studies at ACU gives witness to the attentiveness of God in the lives of God’s ministers. Following is an interview conversation with Randy Harris regarding the Siburt Institute’s Looking Team.
Beth Ann Fisher: For those unfamiliar, what is the Looking Team?
Randy Harris: The Looking Team is comprised of College of Biblical Studies faculty deeply connected to churches across the country. The Looking Team’s purpose is to help churches and ministers find a good match. You might say that we run a dating service for ministers and churches; we highlight for a church someone they may wish to call. We can find somebody they may not have heard or tell a minister about an opportunity he or she may not have otherwise considered. That’s what we do. We have helped many churches and preachers find each other. People often call for help not realizing the Looking Team exists. When people call for a recommendation they have actually contacted a network which meets twice a month. Everybody on the committee seriously gives their most prayerful, thoughtful best when churches and ministers call asking for help.
Beth Ann: What tools does the Looking Team utilize?
Randy: Everybody on the Looking Team has a wide network of contacts and that helps. Churches call or preachers express a desire to make a move, and rather than just sending in a cold resumé, we can suggest somebody who’s also looking that could be a possible match. One of the things we ask ministers to do is send us an updated resumé and we can, with their permission, actually send that out to a church for them. We keep it very confidential. We’re also willing to spend some time talking to minsters about their situation and how they might want to stay where they are. Our goal is to provide encouragement and support for ministry.
Beth Ann: Who is the heart behind this ministry service?
Randy: Charlie Siburt was the biggest preacher-broker in Churches of Christ. He was in churches every weekend. After Charlie died in 2012 and the Siburt Institute began, we appointed a committee to do the work that Charlie was doing out of his back-pocket. We thought this would be the closest we could come. We’re pretty informal; we don’t shine a lot of light on what we’re doing. We’re willing to help any church or preacher who asks.
Beth Ann: Who are your partners?
Randy: There are other organizations out there that help and we work with those groups. For example, Interim Ministry Partners work with churches in transition. When the church they are working with starts asking for names, they almost always call us. Churches and ministers want to call people from a variety of networks knowing we’re not in competition. When the right church and the right minister find each other, everybody wins. We don’t care where they went to school; we want to help people find a good match. We’ve helped place youth ministers, worship ministers, children’s ministers, preachers, associate ministers, executive ministers; we’ll take a pass at anything. Churches aren’t just talking to us, they’re beating the bushes and that’s what they should be doing.
Beth Ann: This sounds to me like a relational mission. Would you say so?
Randy: Churches are not just looking to know somebody; they are looking to be known. That’s why we run a dating service. We offer prayer and all the connections and contacts we can as churches sort it out. It’s stunningly unspectacular!
That’s why it works so well.
Editor’s note: If you are a church or minister in transition, we would love for you to reach out. Or visit siburtinstitute.org/transition for more information about the Looking Team and our other minister transition resources.
