First Baptist Church of Monterey Lead Pastor (Full-Time)

Job Description

The Lead Pastor is to serve First Baptist Church of Monterey (FBCM) by modeling a life of godly, Christ-centered servant leadership, and by providing pastoral care, biblical teaching, and spiritual equipping to its members. His primary responsibility before the Lord and the church is to preach, pray, proclaim the gospel, and pour himself into the church body.

Responsibilities General Duties

  • Leadership: Modeling Christ-like leadership by shepherding God's flock in a manner consistent with the Word of God. The lead pastor will provide pastoral leadership and oversight to ensure that the Elders, staff, and congregation understand, communicate, and take ownership of the church's mission through preaching, teaching, leading, and ministerial care. As an elder, provide oversight in all matters of membership (admittance, care and discipline) and ensure only doctrine fitting to a New Testament church is taught. The candidate will serve to recommend and advise committees and teams as an ex-officio member of all committees in the church.

  • Pastoral Care: In accordance with 2 Timothy 2:24-26, he must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and able to demonstrate the grace of God to all. Work with the elders and members of FBCM to pursue growth in our love for God and love for others, in personal spiritual disciplines, in the fruits of the Spirit, and in Christ-centered living. As an effective biblical counselor, the candidate must support the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being of the body through times of transition, illness, stress, grief and loss. In addition, the candidate must possess a caring, welcoming, and loving attitude toward those that are seeking a relationship with the Lord.

  • Preaching and Teaching: Attend to the ministry of the Word through teaching and preaching (Acts 6:4; Ephesians 4:11-12 1 Timothy 3:2; 5:17; 2 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:9). Teach and preach the whole word of God (Acts 20:26-28). Use the Word of God to exhort, encourage, equip, instruct, and admonish the body (I Thessalonians 2:11-12; II Timothy 3:16-17) Oversee all public teaching and preaching.

  • Community Outreach: Represent the church in civic matters along with other members of the church leadership. Seek out and initiate relationships for potential gospel partnerships for First Baptist Church of Monterey for the purpose of accomplishing the Great Commission.

Discipleship Duties

  • Provide leadership and direction for the spiritual flourishing of the church to fulfill its mission. He must accomplish this through discipleship of Elders and Staff, Lay Leaders, and Laymen and Laywomen in the body.

  • Elders and Deacons: Train and invest in other aspiring elders/pastors within FBCM through mentoring, teaching, and creating opportunities to preach and/or teach as appropriate.

  • Staff: Lead the church staff through administrative direction, planning, regular meetings, personnel performance assessments, and monitoring of deliverables and responsibilities.

  • Lay Leaders: Encourage and support them in their efforts by reminding them of the gospel significance of their service so that lay leaders can teach, encourage, and exhort the body to grow into an active role of serving, helping others, and building up the church.

Other Duties

Baptism, Administering the Lords Supper, Child Dedications, Weddings and Funerals, Member’s Meetings


Necessary Experience, Skills, and Qualities

  • Demonstrates a saving faith in Jesus Christ and the fruit of the Spirit as evidenced by a life that is passionately lived in the fear of God and for the glory of God (exhibiting the godly character and qualities outlined in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, 1 Peter 5:1-4, and Acts 6:4).

  • Demonstrates spiritual maturity, Bible knowledge and leadership skills required for this position.

  • Demonstrates the ability to understand and communicate God’s Word from the pulpit and in other necessary contexts (outside of Sunday mornings) with regularity, accuracy, clarity and relevance

  • Demonstrates the ability to form, cultivate and cast the vision and mission of the church

  • Demonstrates the ability to lead, organize, and oversee the ministry of others

  • Demonstrates educational and work achievements consistent with the needs of this position

  • Demonstrates strong verbal and written skills.

  • Demonstrates exceptional interpersonal and relational skills and has a passion for pastoral care

  • Demonstrates a heart for evangelism and a desire to reach the lost for Christ

  • Demonstrates a desire to work hard and has a passion for quality and excellence in ministry.

  • Demonstrates a proficiency in the use of productivity software applications

  • Demonstrates a drive for continuous improvement/learning

Preferred Experience, Skills, and Qualities

  • Experience with church planting or revitalization

Qualifications

  • The pastoral candidate shall be a man who is an ordained Baptist minister of conservative convictions freely subscribing to the doctrinal statement of the church. He shall also meet the qualifications of an Elder.

  • Seminary trained (MDiv equivalent or higher)

  • Able to provide references of the following:

    • A mentor, someone mentored, a colleague, someone supervised (at least one female)

  • Minimum 3 years’ experience in a pastoral role (preferred 5)

Compensation

  • Salary will be $82,000 per year, plus benefits (retirement, disability, health insurance)

  • A portion of this annual pay ($38,784) shall be “housing allowance”

About First Baptist Church of Monterey

First Baptist Church of Monterey was founded by a small group of Christians who were hungry to have their own local church. In the past they had traveled to Salinas to attend a church that fit their convictions, but this grew taxing on their time and resources, and so they began to meet together for prayer right here in their own city! The group began to grow, and by April of 1910, a young lady named Bessie McKim decided to organize a Sunday School to care for and teach the young children of those who attended the prayer meetings.

God continued to bless the group and more and more members were added to their numbers. With that in mind the group decided to take the next logical step: They held their first service! That was more than one-hundred years ago in May, 1910! Reverend Walter Tanner became the first pastor of this little group of believers and pastored them for some time. The church is now with its fourteenth pastor, Pastor Nathan Rehn, and in its second building.

We are grateful for all of God’s many blessings throughout the years, and for using this little church to bless the people both here in Monterey, and all over this wonderful world! Thousands of people have heard the life saving gospel of Jesus Christ through this church, and many hundreds more have been baptized and discipled through our various ministries. We still teach the little children the precious word of God and preach the Bible with the same conviction as Miss Bessie, and Reverend Walter did over one-hundred years ago!

About the Monterey Peninsula

Monterey, California is located on the southern edge of Monterey Bay in the Central Coast of California. It was founded in June 3, 1770 under Spanish and Mexican rule, and was home to many firsts for California including the first library, publicly funded school, and newspaper. It has served as a major port town throughout its history, and was home to a large Italian fishing community until the 1950’s. Since 1992, it has been home to the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary.

Today Monterey’s population of more than 30,000 people has a high concentration of students, including those attending Monterey Peninsula Community College (MPCC), California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB), Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS), as well as our two esteemed military schools, the Defense Language Institute (DLI) and the Naval Post Graduate School (NPS). Due to MIIS and DLI’s focus on excellence in language and international studies, Monterey has been named the Language Capital of the World.

Monterey also sees 4.6 million visitors each year to enjoy the comfort of the inns, hotels, and resorts that grace the peninsula. These visitors come to delight in the beauty, wildlife, and history of our community, with some of the biggest attractions being the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Fisherman’s Wharf, Cannery Row, Big Sur, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and the spectacular beaches. Monterey County also hosts several highly attended events throughout the year including the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Big Sur International Marathon, and the MotoAmerica Superbike Speedfest at the Laguna Seca Raceway.


Because a significant portion of Monterey’s residents are in the military, students, or vacationers, we have the unique opportunity at First Baptist Monterey to share the gospel and welcome people into our family for short periods of time. However, the harvest is ripe among our local population with 50% of adults claiming to have no religion. It is our deepest desire to proclaim the Lord until He returns and be a shining light to our community for both the residents that call Monterey “home” as well as those which God sends us for a season.