Highland Campus Pastor

The Highland Campus Pastor role is unique. The Campus Pastor has the opportunity to do the things most pastors love about ministry (e.g., preach, equip, and shepherd people) and avoid the things many pastors don’t like (e.g., financial management, facilities maintenance, and marketing). The Highland Campus Pastor preaches about 25 times per year and provides oversight to the ministry at his campus. He will enjoy the opportunity to provide contextualized programming and outreach while benefiting from the support of the main campus. The Campus Pastor will have a supportive and friendly relationship with the Executive Pastor of Ministries.

Why We Love This Opportunity

Bethel is a genuinely healthy, growing church making a real impact across Northwest Indiana, and that’s not something you take for granted. What makes this truly unique is that you’re launching a brand-new campus in a completely renovated building, with a launch team of over 500 people already behind you. This is a tremendous opportunity to do meaningful pastoral work: preaching, leading staff, and reaching a community, with the full backing of an established organization supporting you every step of the way.

A great match for this position would be:

• Demonstrate a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
• A person of high character who possesses life experience that shows evidence of emotional and spiritual maturity including self-awareness of their strengths and limitations.
• Excellent Bible-based preaching, teaching, and communication skills. A genuine passion for the gospel.
• Experience in innovating and growing ministry, with an emphasis on reaching younger families.
• Missionally focused and oriented toward serving and reaching the community with the Gospel.
• Clear alignment with the theological positions of Bethel.  
• A theological master’s degree.
• A minimum of 5 years of pastoral leadership experience, or equivalent, including oversight of paid staff and volunteers.

About This Organization

• Bethel is a growing, nondenominational, evangelical church that is striving to exalt Christ through expository preaching, God-saturated worship, loving community, and gospel outreach. They have five locations with a combined average weekend worship attendance of about 4,000 people (3,600 are on-site, and 400 worship on-line). Outreach Magazine has named Bethel one of the top 100 largest churches (2020 and 2021) and top 100 fastest growing churches (2017) in America. 

• The mission of Bethel is clear: to reach Northwest Indiana with congregations that glorify God through making disciples whose lives are all about Jesus. To accomplish these purposes, over 50 staff serve the people of Bethel Church. The staff culture is strong and healthy, and the staff support one another. The staff functions with a high degree of team spirit and collaboration.

Location

• Northwest Indiana offers a strong sense of community with hardworking people and deep local roots. It’s an ideal place for families to settle in, build relationships, and enjoy the beauty of all four seasons. Its location also offers convenient access to both Lake Michigan and Chicago.

• Melissa Anderson – Director of Kids Ministries

Position Profile

Mission, Vision, and Values

Mission: 

To make disciples of Jesus Christ whose lives are “All About Him.”

 Vision: 

Bethel exists to multiply disciples through multiple sites and multiple partnerships

 Values: 

• Rooted in Scripture
• Devoted in Worship
• Growing in Community
• Engaged in Mission

Staff Culture

• We work hard and we work smart, acknowledging that all spiritual fruit is the Lord’s doing.
• We cultivate enjoyable, life-giving relationships with one another.
• We greatly value collaboration (within the appropriate context).
• We prioritize timely communication with each other.
• We expect a culture of trust and confidence in one another.
• We are private critics and public fans.
• We quickly entrust our frustrations to our supervisors.
• We relentlessly celebrate our wins and apply our theology to our “losses.”
• We honor every staff member for the essential ministry contribution that each person provides.
• We continually strive to keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.

Key Qualifications

The ideal candidate should be motivated and gifted to:

• Possess an authentic faith in Jesus: Be an unashamed lover of Jesus. Creates energy in others by the way he personally models deep spiritual rhythms and then leads the body to do the same. He is someone who replicates the idea of Paul who said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”
• Holds clear theological convictions: Has a thorough and solid understanding of the historic faith of the church. Since the Scriptures were given by God to be understood, the Campus Pastor clearly articulates the major tenets of the faith with conviction, without wavering in the face of cultural pressure. He gives expression to the mysterious reality of God’s presence, peace, and power in the world.
• Provide Campus Leadership and Vision: Function as the point person for the campus, leading the campus to realize the goals of Bethel Church. Communicate a fresh, energizing, and distinct vision for the campus that aligns with the mission and values of Bethel Church. Serve as the primary worship leader for the campus by directing the Sunday experience in synergy with the staff. Provide direct leadership to staff, elders, deacons, and volunteers. Equip campus staff and volunteers to execute their duties with skill and effectiveness. Develop the essential ministries of the campus including discipleship, small groups, children’s ministry, women’s ministry, and men’s ministry. Lead the campus to develop a successful outreach plan to reach more people for Christ.
• Bible-based, relevant, and dynamic preacher: Be knowledgeable and experienced in communicating biblical truth and leading a congregation through this lens. Seeks to understand the message of the ancient text and then to adeptly apply it to modern life in an accessible manner. Be able to preach effectively and dynamically in large environments of 1000 people, as this person will occasionally fill the pulpit at Bethel Crown Point. Possess a strong prophetic voice with powerful function and a solid dynamic range.  Preach a gospel message in an authentic, transparent, humble, and sober minded manner while at the same time finding both the humorous and glorious in life. Guard the truth of God’s Word against errors, deception, self-aggrandizement, and misapplication. Model love for the God-breathed text by the way he communicates in the daily course of ministry. Lovingly challenges people to stretch and grow. Preach expositional sermons with winsomeness, urgency, and grace.
• Pastor the people: Care about people and convey a clear call to shepherd the campus, particularly in times of need or crisis. Be available to help people develop in Christlikeness. Willingly enter into relationships with people who have “colorful” pasts, serving those living on the margins of life and who may face a variety of disorders. Take time to linger with people and build up trust and relational connections. Minister out of a caring heart. Communicate that “I’m going to be here with you” and sink roots into the community and church family.
• Lead staff: Invest in the paid staff of the church through personal relationships, training, and pastoral care. Provide timely and thorough communication when giving direction. Manage staff workload in accordance with the priorities and policies of Bethel Church. Be a shepherd to the staff and continue the positive staff culture present at Bethel.
• Maximize resources and mobilize on mission: Maximize existing resources (people, facilities, finances) to advance the mission. Invite and encourage people to invest their gifts and talents in God’s kingdom. Ensure the development of organizational structures that welcome new people, help them assimilate, disciple them, and activate them for ministry. Build and strengthen what already exists while noticing opportunities to find new ways to meet real needs in the community.
• Empower leaders: Prefer a team approach to ministry. Convey confidence in others by trusting them with leadership on the team. Develop a process to equip people for ministry. Delegate and encourage. Ensure good training of and support for staff, volunteers, and lay leaders. Be attentive to the workload of staff. Champion the best ideas and give credit where credit is due.