Being in the staffing business, we have a unique view of leadership challenges in churches across our nation. The number of open roles in Southern Baptist churches is an ocean of vacancies. There are not enough qualified candidates right now to fill them all.

We need to beckon more students and young adults to explore a ministry call. Another blog for another day.

We need more leadership pipelines. Another blog for another day.

We need more internships and residencies. Another blog for another day.

We need a few churches to humbly join with another church. Perhaps the SBC is a bit bloated. Another blog for another day.

Notice the title. …Staffing Your VISION. If you don’t have one, read no further. Start there. Without vision the people perish. Clarify the grand design for your church in your context and develop your org chart from there.

Assuming you have that part down, here are nine approaches to staff your vision.

1. Full-time salaried – Often called “The Cadillac of Church Staffing”…okay, no one calls it that. Staff at this level require the most investment overall. Investment of time to find them, move them, sustain their income and benefits, and keep them happy. They may require some level of paid ministry assistance…another expense. They likely have advanced degrees. But all of that time they invested in seminary and experience they carry typically pays off. Because they are salaried, they should be “whatever it takes.” They have honed their ministry expertise and can get a lot of ministry done. You can count on them outside of normal hours. They bring much to the table.
2. Full-time hourly – You may find this person out of your region, but often these roles can be filled with in-house leaders. You still have to invest in a significant salary and some level of benefits, but they come a little cheaper. Full-time status at your church may mean 28 hours, 32 hours, 35 hours or something similar. Hourly status is tied to overtime laws. No getting around those. However, you can decide on what constitutes full-time and how that impacts benefits and staffing structure. You aren’t expecting 45+ hours out of them. You will generally get less “above and beyond” time out of a person like this.
3. Part-time – This person will rarely, if ever, go into overtime. Here, we are talking 8, 10, 15, or maybe 20 hours per week. This is almost always a leader you would raise up from within. They have less impact on the budget, but they are often extremely committed from the get-go. Because of their more rigid hours, it’s going to be tougher to nail them down on meeting times, off-hour commitments, or adding new responsibilities to their plate.
4. Multiple part-time – Could you take a job description for a full-time role and cut it into two or three part-time roles? Maybe you hire them in stages instead of all at the same time. Because the salaries will be lower and benefits would be non-existent, you may be able to get more man-hours for less money. You suffer some of the same problems of a part-time staffing scenario mentioned above…and sometimes 2X or 3X depending on how many people you hire. However, it could be a way to focus staff efforts into tighter lanes that, if given the resources, time, and encouragement, could develop that role into a full-time one.
5. Intern – Interns are typically older high school or college-aged students who are ready to pitch in where needed. You’ll find them in your fellowship or community. Perhaps another church in the area would lend you someone for a season. They may be a general intern that takes a load off of multiple staff or they may be focused on a particular ministry area.
6. Resident – Residencies are typically longer (1-2 years) programs with intentional theological, practical, and leadership training. You can read about a few examples here, here, here, and here. This takes a great deal of energy, planning, and capital to get it going. And you can’t fizzle a thing like this out. People commit a year or more of their lives to invest in what you’ve offered them. It better be good. You probably get some bang for your buck within your own ministry, but residency programs are better suited for the church that’s passionate about launching out new leaders into kingdom work.
7. Volunteer staff – These need to be hand-picked, well-trained leaders that you trust. If you bring on an “unpaid” staff member, you need to have very similar expectations as you do for those who get a paycheck…but with a little extra grace. Put their responsibilities and term for serving in writing. Clarify expectations before they say their “yes.” Don’t move the goalposts on them without thorough discussion. Create pathways of good communication. Involve them in staff meetings and other staff events, if possible. Pay them in other ways so they stay motivated and appreciated.
8. Do it yourself – You may just need to take the role on yourself. It will probably make for a hard season. If you do, create clear lines of responsibility with your board, boundaries with your leadership team, and expectations with your spouse and family. This solution is likely not tenable long-term, but it might get you a year down the road while you work on a staffing alternative.
9. Add responsibilities to other staff – Another often unpopular, yet sometimes necessary, option. When budgets are thin but an extra load for a season would pay off in vision fulfillment, sometimes this is the best route. Questions you might ask before doing this:
   • Are we able to put a timeline on when the responsibilities will be turned over to someone else?
   • Can we divide these among multiple staff?
   • What expectations should we put in writing?
   • How will we communicate these new leadership responsibilities to others involved?
   • How will I go about evaluating this staff member’s effectiveness, overall health, and sense of being “all good?”
   • Can we pay the staff member a little more during this time of extra load?
   • Can we pull something off of his or her plate to make room for new responsibilities?
   • What are the resources we can provide him or her to succeed?

There you go. You can stop complaining about the leadership gaps in your church. You have nine options to move your gospel-centered vision forward. Have fun!