New Life Bible Fellowship
- Denomination: Non-denominational
- Location: Tucson, AZ
- Size: 1100
- Website: https://newlifetucson.com/
- Hiring for: student ministry director
A crucial role opens
After six years, New Life Bible Fellowship’s student ministry director position became vacant, presenting an opportunity to welcome the next season of growth. The youth program had been built up to host 90 students regularly, but a passionate, faithful, trustworthy person was needed to continue watering the seeds planted.
New Life Bible specifically wanted to build longevity within its leadership team: Co-Lead Pastor Greg Lavine has served faithfully for two and a half decades and his counterpart, John Beeson, is coming up on a decade. The team hoped to welcome an asset to their team who would be able to serve faithfully in their community for many years to come.
As the youth group actively gained strong momentum and the church steadily continued to rebuild its membership post-COVID, filling this position became crucial to sustaining the church’s growth and forward momentum.
About New Life Bible Fellowship
New Life Bible Fellowship has been serving the Tucson community since 1956. Their heartbeat is to cultivate a community that enjoys God and transforms the world through the gospel. New Life extends an open invitation for visitors to attend their Sunday services, so they can experience the incredible mystery of being a member of the body of Christ by meeting face-to-face.
Ministries at New Life build community around scripture and discipleship. Their student ministry exists to create an experience where students can meet Jesus and grow in their relationship with Him and each other during the formative—and often most difficult—years of their lives. That’s why their gatherings always involve worship, friends, small groups, and a message geared toward students and their everyday life.
The ideal candidate
New Life Bible Fellowship’s ideal candidate would need the following key qualifications and characteristics:
- At least three years of experience in student ministry and strategic planning
- A bachelor’s degree or higher
- Comprehensive alignment with New Life’s beliefs, vision, and philosophy of ministry
- Theologically grounded
- A fun, curious, and relational personality who is able to engage with students naturally
- Capable of developing staff and volunteers into leaders
From planning to placement
Back in 2017, New Life Fellowship worked with Vanderbloemen to find their next worship arts director. Now in a similar predicament, the church decided to once again partner with Vanderbloemen.
Director of Executive Search Eugene Lee connected with New Life’s staff, and built a profile for their dream candidate. He partnered with Executive Search recruiter Sarah Meggers to interview key staff members and study their team culture to understand what type of candidate would fit into their team—and lead for decades to come.
With the candidate profiles finalized, the search officially began. Sarah, known for her proactive approach and ability to find standout candidates, interviewed close to 100 candidates. After a few rounds of interviews, the four strongest candidates were presented to the search team.
About Andrew Hester
Within the first slate of candidates, Andrew Hester emerged as a clear standout for his abundant experience, including five years as a youth minister, two years as a men’s college minister, and, more recently, four years as a Bible department chair at a Christian high school.
Throughout the interview process, Andrew’s character and personality aligned well to the church’s staff culture and specific ministry needs. Andrew demonstrated a strong grasp of theology, leadership capability, and authenticity that resonated. As an added bonus, Andrew was already based in Tucson and familiar with New Life, having both attended services and connected with church members in the community.
“We are confident that Andrew will be a fantastic addition to the New Life team and make a significant impact on their student ministry,” Eugene says.
In early February 2025, Andrew officially joined the team as student ministry director. He is directly participating in the spiritual formation of the next generation.
