Job Overview
The Associate Pastor will serve the church family of Springs of Grace Baptist
Church (SoG) through the Biblical responsibilities of an elder/pastor/overseer. He will faithfully shepherd the church alongside other elders in a full-time staff capacity. As a staff pastor, he will uphold the mission, vision, and values of the church and assist the Lead Pastor in the duties of leading the local congregation.
He must be willing to creatively fulfil his ministry through a variety of responsibilities.
These responsibilities primarily include:
1) Participation in regular Elders' meetings to address matters of church oversight, mission, and vision.
2) Assisting Lead Pastor in day-to-day duties pertaining to facilities and other church resources
3) Creating and executing a plan for effective communication between leadership and the congregation
4) Missionally engaging our neighborhood community through creative and relational efforts
5) Providing supporting leadership to various ministries as the Lord has gifted him (For Example: musical worship, children's ministry, youth ministry, college ministry)
6) Assist the Lead Pastor in incorporating visitors into the life of the church
... for the cooperative effort to see the Kingdom of God in Shreveport as is in heaven, for The Glory of God, The Good of The Church, and The Growth of the Kingdom.
Accountable to: Lead Pastor
Status: Full Time
Work hours: The Associate Pastor is expected to work an average of 40 hours/ week including weekly worship, staff meetings, and regular elders' meetings.
Preferred Experience: Undergraduate or Graduate theological training. 3-5 years of ministry experience in lay or staff capacity. Experience in ethnically, generationally, and/or otherwise diverse ministry contexts.
Job Description
About Springs of Grace:
Springs of Grace is a Southern Baptist Church in inner-city Shreveport, Louisiana. Founded in the 1950s as Sunset Acres Baptist Church, the church started as a mission to the surrounding neighborhood. The church grew rapidly, and quickly became one of the largest congregations in the area. Through the decades, the growth plateaued, then began to decline. In the providence of God, the church experienced a spiritual renewal in the 1990s that was marked by a shift to expository preaching, reformed theology, and a renewed burden for the neighborhood that God placed us in. The context shifted from predominantly white middle class, to predominantly black. The community of Sunset Acres has settled into a highly transient neighborhood with low income families, failing schools, and high crime rates.
In 2023, after even more decline in membership, Springs of Grace voted to participate in a revitalization effort of planting a church within their already existing congregation. This effort is known as "replanting". Under the leadership of a new pastor and the formation of a new vision, Springs set out to be "a church replanted to see the Kingdom of God in Shreveport as it is in Heaven". This has brought about new ministries, partnerships, and members without compromising the original 1950s mission to the local neighborhood or the convictions established in the 1990s of reformed theology and expository preaching.
The context of Sunset Acres is challenging, but also welcoming to anyone willing to engage the challenge with creativity and grit. The needs of the church are equally challenging. An aging congregation that doesn't yet reflect the demographics of the neighborhood, an oversized facility, and a shortage of resources make creativity and flexibility mandatory. Yet with those challenges, the blessings of small testimonies of success prove more rewarding than most other ministry contexts. The providence of God in our location is undeniable. We were established in Sunset Acres and are called to Sunset Acres.
We believe God has us in the heart of our city for three main purposes, and we aim to pursue them withall we do. We are here for the glory of God, the good of the Church, and the growth of the Kingdom.