Search committees are always looking for pastors and additional staff, but they need to know the difference between mission-driven leadership and maintenance-drive leadership. Here is the first set of distinctions you need to make in your interviews:

Maintenance                                  Mission

Serving the church                         Serving the Mission

Serving the membership                Serving Christ

Care Taking for members               Care Giving to strangers

Equipping to do tasks                     Empowering to pursue call

Everything on the left will help the candidate you are interviewing maintain the existing level of congregational life. Everything on the right will help the candidate grow God’s mission in the future.