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One of the least understood roles in churches is the "second chair" role -- the person who reports directly to the senior pastor (or sometimes the church board) and oversees a large portion of the church staff.
This person goes by lots of different titles. Most common is executive pastor, but they're also sometimes known as executive director, executive minister, business administrator, associate pastor, and more.
Leadership Network recently conducted a survey of people in this strategic role, drawing 555 responses. The research was done in partnership with xpastor.org and summarized in the April issue of Church Executive magazine. The complete survey and results are available in an illustrated report for free download at www.leadnet.org.
Top 10 Findings
The project findings were very informative and contained a few surprises. Can you spot which statement below is false? |
How do senior pastors compare with executive pastors?
Leadership Network's senior pastor survey is now open -- with the promise that every participant gets a free copy of the results. Lead pastors in churches with attendance of 800 and higher are encouraged to participate here. |
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More executive pastors come from the business world than from any other field. |
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On average, executive pastors work 50 hours a week and have 9 direct reports. |
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Female executive pastors spend more of their week advising the senior pastor than their male counterparts do. |
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Churches typically create an executive pastor role after they reach an attendance of about 1,000. |
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An increasing trend in very large churches is for several people to share the executive pastor role. |
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Executive pastors spend about 40% of their time in administration or meetings. |
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Executive pastors voice a high satisfaction level with their relationship to their senior pastor. |
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The executive pastor eats dinner with his or her family 4 or 5 nights a week. |
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The typical age of executive pastors is 53 years old. |
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A large majority of executive pastors say their closest friends are at their church. |
For the one incorrect option, click here . . . |
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All Access is an innovative gathering of visionary local church leaders. It will include wide-open worship, teaching from the leaders of some of America's fastest-growing churches, and intentional connections with others just like you.
If you are a pastor or leader with a passion to plant churches or grow the one you're in, don't miss out on this unique event.
Attend a Sticky conference, and learn to close the back door and become the church no one wants to leave.
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A new and improved vision for being a Church of Irresistible Influence |
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Strategic ministry philosophy for reaching unbelievers and releasing mature believers |
| Fewer Americans Call Themselves Christian |
The United States has grown less religious in the last two decades, a new study shows, with a 10 percent drop in the number of people who call themselves Christians and increases in all 50 states among those who are not aligned with any faith.
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| Ideation Experience: The Place for Great Ideas |
Do you have an idea that could shape the church in the coming decade? Does that great idea ever keep you up at night? Do you love to think and talk about great ideas and how to make them work?
| "The Show" Videocast Announced |
"The Show," a new weekly, 15-minute online videocast from Leadership Network, will feature a fascinating guest, a discussion of current events in the church world, and an opportunity to interact with some of the most innovative minds in today's church.
Keep following Advance for more information and program details of the videocast, which will happen live online every Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. (Eastern), beginning May 5.
| A Radical Future for Women's Ministry |
Women's ministries are on the cusp of radical future change. Sherry Surratt, director of the Women's Initiative at Leadership Network, shares examples of changes already taking place around the country.
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Top leaders from some of the most innovative women's ministries are gathered in this installment of Audio Advance to discuss what is working and what is not, with the hope of creating easily replicable models that will unleash revolutionary change.
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You can peruse nearly 100 past issues of Leadership Network Advance and get valuable information on a variety of ministry topics in our Archives. Select VIEW FULL ARCHIVES LIST to see what's there.
Here are a few topics of interest we covered recently: |
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