Lead Pastor

Lead Pastor — Sovereign Life Fellowship, Longview, Texas

Sovereign Life Fellowship (SLF) is seeking a lead pastor to serve as the primary preaching/teaching pastor of our church. Alongside the other elders he will provide spiritual leadership to the congregation and general oversight to the ministries and programs of the church.

The chief responsibility of the lead pastor is devotion to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4) for the purpose of equipping the congregation for service, and for building them up to maturity in Christ (Eph 4:11-16). The lead pastor, together with the other SLF elders, will provide pastoral care to SLF Covenant Members and regular attenders (delegating to and utilizing the Deacon Ministry as necessary so as to not distract from his chief responsibility).

Ideally, the lead pastor would serve full-time in that role. However, we understand that based on a reasonable financial need, and the ability or inability of SLF to fully meet that need, a co-vocational role may be considered for the right candidate.

Responsibilities:

Demonstrate godliness, being an example to the flock.
Furnish visionary and directional leadership to the church, in coordination with the other elders, that is biblically grounded and aligned with SLF’s mission, values, and pillars.
Serve as the primary preaching/teaching pastor, preparing and preaching expositional sermons for the Sunday morning worship services at least 40 weeks per year at SLF.
Shepherd the congregation with wisdom, maturity, humility, theological conviction, and servant leadership.
Provide pastoral care through sound biblical counseling, discipleship, faithful church discipline, hospitality, and engagement in fellowship with SLF members and regular attenders.

Qualifications/Requirements: 

Elder character as described in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Peter 5:1-4.
Competency and excellence in the study and exposition of the scriptures.
Skilled expositional preacher/teacher of the whole counsel of God.
Full agreement (public and private) with SLF’s Statement of Faith.
Adherence to the five solas of the reformation and God’s sovereign work in the election of the redeemed.
Commitment to the biblical model of elder-led/ruled church government under a plurality of elders.
Excellent communication, time management, and interpersonal/relational skills.
Conviction that, besides worship, the primary purpose of the gathered church on Sunday is for the building up/maturing of the Saints and not for evangelistic entertainment. 

Experience:

Prefer ministry experience within a church governed by a plurality of elders.
A demonstrated history of pastoral care of a congregation.
While a formal seminary or university degree is not mandatory, in its absence the candidate must provide evidence of rigorous theological study and mature spiritual discernment.

Compensation:

Salary range $60k-$80k per year depending on experience and qualifications. 

Sovereign Life Fellowship is an elder-led and deacon-served church whose mission is to Make Much of Christ in all we do. We value the expositional preaching and teaching of God’s word in the reformed tradition, complimented by Christ-centered worship with songs grounded in biblical truth. We are committed to missions and support a pastor training center in Kenya. We also value private and corporate prayer, grace-centered discipleship, and building meaningful community through authentic relationships and covenanted church membership.

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