Executive pastors Zac Ashley (Bay Area Church), Jeff Young (Champion Forest Baptist Church), and Stephen Trammell (Houston's First Baptist Church) sit down with UBA’s Executive Director Josh Ellis to talk about the role of the executive pastor.
The conversation starts with the introduction of three executive pastors and how they got into their roles.
Stephen served as a senior pastor for 20 years before becoming an executive pastor.
Jeff started his journey as a “student pastor/janitor” and later became a minister of education and administration.
Zac was a student minister for 10 years and later became an associate pastor focused on spiritual formation and then a hybrid of executive pastor and associate pastor.
They discuss how their roles and responsibilities vary.
Stephen focuses on vision execution, ministry execution, and aligning ministries to the vision of the church. He also oversees staff.
Jeff describes his role as “minister of meetings” and “minister miscellaneous.” He ensures that everyone is on the same page and that different parts of the church know and understand what the others are doing.
Zac helps the lead pastor with vision implementation and keeps him focused on his main priorities. He also aligns human resources and financial resources.
They all agree that the role of an executive pastor requires flexibility, good communication skills, and the ability to handle complexity.
Key takeaways from the conversation:
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of what an executive pastor does. The role can vary depending on the size and needs of the church, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the senior pastor.
Some executive pastors are more focused on the administrative side of things, while others are more focused on people-oriented duties.
Regardless of their focus, all executive pastors need to be good communicators, able to handle complexity, and flexible.
The relationship between the senior pastor and the executive pastor is critical to the success of both roles and the church overall.
This video is part of a 4-part series on the role of the executive pastor. You can watch the rest of these three videos below.
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