Living Faith Christian Church Hires Senior Pastor

What does Ring the Bell mean? At Vanderbloemen, we want to celebrate as a team every time we have the honor of helping a church, school, or organization find their perfect candidate to fill a gap in their team and further their ministry. To do that, we have a bell on the wall in our Vanderbloemen office, within hearing distance of the entire team. Every time a candidate is placed, the team members who worked on that search ring the bell so that our team can celebrate!

Meet Living Faith Christian Church 

Living Faith Christian Church (LFCC) has a long history of people stepping out in faith to provide a place for individuals and families to experience a dynamic, living community where people connect with God and others. From a Quaker Meeting House to the present-day building, this church has grown to allow space for all to come for worship, teaching, and community. Through the years, the buildings may have changed, but there continues to be a deep commitment to use the church campus to provide a place for people to experience a living faith and a welcoming community.

LFCC was established in 1952 as Wantagh Baptist Church. To this day, LFCC holds a Baptist heritage and faith. In 2004, 400 people took a step of faith to sell their property, build a new facility, relocate, and rename the church to reach more people. On March 21, 2010, the church opened its new facility and changed its name to Living Faith Christian Church. Today, over 1,700 people attend Living Faith each week from all across Long Island, with over 500 first-time visitors in 2022.  

Opportunity

Living Faith Christian Church needed a senior pastor, a critical role that they needed to fill quickly to bring the congregation to stable growth toward fulfilling their mission and vision.

Once found, the new senior pastor would be responsible for the nurturing, feeding, protection, and spiritual leadership of the congregation. This person would cast vision and direction for the church and provide oversight for the entire staff. 

Solution

After reaching out to Vanderbloemen, LFCC partnered with Executive Search Consultant Brian Dunks. Brian met with the Search Committee, Elders, and Senior Staff to hear what LFCC needed in a Senior Pastor, observe their culture, and build a profile for the type of person to look for. 

With the collaboration of the team at LFCC, Brian pieced together the description of what the future Senior Pastor would look like. He would be highly educated, bring valuable comparable experience, and offer strong preaching skills. He was also tasked with identifying candidates who had a heart for God’s glory and a passion for seeing lives changed by the gospel.

Result

Quickly after being presented with the first round of qualified candidates, Living Faith Christian Church hired Scott Lothery, who most recently was a Lead Pastor in the suburbs of Chicago at a six-location multisite ministry. LFCC was the long-term fit that Scott and his wife Cindy had been looking for.

Eleven months later, LFCC had seen abundant success and growth as a result of their new hire. Scott reported excitedly about the work God had done in their church, including 192 baptisms, a jump in attendance by about 50%, a 20% livestream increase, new initiatives in each of their adult ministries, a new staff leadership team structure, increased children’s attendance, a 7% increase in giving, and “an overall sense of the church feeling refreshed by the Holy Spirit.”

Scott also presented a 3-4-year vision plan that included building out the Children’s ministry space, a 2-year lay leadership development program, and financial security elements. 

The hire has proven to be beneficial for both Scott’s family and Living Faith Christian Church, leading to transformative growth and renewed enthusiasm within the congregation. This successful match has not only fulfilled Scott and Cindy's long-term aspirations, but also propelled LFCC toward a prosperous future.

Benefit

The benefit of hiring Vanderbloemen is that we have the search capabilities to find the ideal fit for your organization, whether the right person is already working for you or is living halfway across the globe. We can provide an extensive reach and a full-staff approach for organizations that otherwise would be limited to their local networks and would need to sacrifice other responsibilities to invest in a quality search. We are able to bring schools and organizations executive position candidates they could not find on their own.

If you’re ready to start the conversation around hiring, contact our team. We’ll guide you through the hiring process at every level, from job descriptions to signing the offer letter.