Executive pastor: Their role & impact on your church

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Think of everything a pastor may do on a daily basis—communications, budgeting, counseling, and managing staff. So many operational and administrative tasks make it challenging for pastors to dedicate time to sermon preparation, spiritual guidance, and pastoral care for their congregation. 

However, with the support of an executive pastor (also referred to as “XP”) handling these duties, the senior pastor can reclaim much-needed time and energy to focus on their core ministry responsibilities, nurturing the spiritual well-being of the church community.

Let’s take a look at the role, responsibilities, and characteristics of an executive pastor and the impact they have on a church. 

What is an executive pastor?

An executive pastor is a pastor who handles the administrative and strategic aspects of local church ministry, carrying out the vision set by the lead pastor. Their role exists to help their church faithfully execute all activities that are essential for fulfilling their mission. 

Many people are not familiar with the office of executive pastor as it does not have any biblical definition. In fact, it’s a relatively newer concept formed back in the 1980s as churches began to see the need for organizational management in order to keep pastors from being swamped with administrative and operational tasks. Since then, the executive pastor role has become a standard role—especially in churches with over 1,000 people in attendance. 

What does an executive pastor do? 

While the role of an executive pastor is broad in scope, they typically have responsibilities related to the administration, operation, and strategic work of the local church. So, let’s explore some of the most common responsibilities of an executive pastor.

Primary responsibilities of an executive pastor

Administrative & operational tasks

While many church offices have office managers or other such assistants to help greet people who come into the church, answer phone calls, and so on, the executive pastor is responsible for overseeing the administrative and operational teams and making sure everything is in place for:

• Risk management: Ensuring that policies and procedures, such as insurance contracts and security systems, are in place.
• Facilities management: Are there lightbulbs flickering in the children’s ministry area, or are the front doors not working properly? The executive pastor will handle it or get their facilities team on the case.
• IT management: As churches grow, so does their need for more technology. The XP works with IT staff and volunteers to make sure their internet, software, and data are secure and functioning properly. 
• Church management software (ChMS): Church management software provides valuable insight into church members, such as event participation, donation history, volunteer history, and much more. Executive pastors rely on their ChMS to better know their congregation, analyze what ministry areas are growing or need improvement, as well as to grow their church.  
• Event management: One important role for many XPs is keeping tabs on upcoming events, ensuring they’re funded and have sufficient staffing. 

Staff management & leadership

• Human resources: The executive pastor is usually in charge of staff management and leadership activities. This includes approving time off, scheduling and leading staff meetings, and executing other key team leadership tasks.
• Payroll: The executive pastor is also likely responsible for overseeing payroll, managing health insurance plans, and other human resources related tasks.
• Volunteer management: Volunteer leaders often report directly to the executive pastor, informing them of progress, roadblocks, and any other important information. 
• Leadership development: The best XPs have vision and initiative for others on their staff, providing them with resources and training to grow in their roles.

Strategic planning & vision implementation

• Project management: Without executive oversight, many projects can run off track, go over budget, or simply fail. The executive pastor will ensure that everyone is accountable and has what they need to succeed. 
• Communications & marketing: XPs are always looking for ways to improve communications, streamline processes, and attract new people to their church. This often requires close collaboration with their director of communications and ministry team leaders. 
• Networking: Part of their strategic planning could be networking with business leaders and other influential people in the local community to learn how the church can be a better neighbor and participant in the city or county.
• Seeking feedback: Executive pastors should regularly meet with key members of the church to gather feedback and information about how different ministries in the church are doing and what church leadership may do better to make the vision of the leaders a reality.

Financial oversight & stewardship

• Tithes & offerings: Executive pastors are often tasked with overseeing the tithes and offerings of church members and the stewardship of those funds.
• Capital campaign management: If a church is planning to expand their building’s footprint or explore some other major financial commitment, the executive pastor is more often than not the person responsible for overseeing that significant financial decision and its implementation.
• Balancing the books: More often than not, it’s the executive pastor that is balancing the checkbook, keeping track of members’ giving, and making sure the church has the resources it needs to operate and grow to better serve its community.

Executive pastor vs. senior pastor

God has gifted pastors and church leaders in different ways. It isn’t always the case, but in many 21st century Western churches, the senior pastor of a church is equipped with gifts to be a good preacher, an effective counselor, and the chief evangelist of their local church. 

The person that fills the role of senior pastor is often highly relational and spends much of their time engaging with the “people matters” of the church rather than the more operational matters. Likewise, the senior pastor is often more of a “visionary” leader who has an idea of what God wants the church to be, but needs help doing all the practical work to make that happen.

The executive pastor role is one that is meant to complement a senior pastor who is less inclined to be involved in the “business” of the local church, either because they lack the gifts to do those tasks effectively, or simply doesn’t have the time. This means that the executive pastor is likely to not preach or counsel as much as the senior pastor, but they will oversee the people and process of the local church to help the vision of the senior pastor become a reality.

Supporting role to the senior pastor

Beyond those primary responsibilities, it is often the role of the executive pastor to support the vision and leadership of the senior pastor. The executive pastor is often seen sort of as the senior pastor’s “right-hand man,” and for good reason. 

But what does it practically look like for the executive pastor to support the work of the senior pastor? Here are a few examples of how an executive pastor supports the senior pastor.

Collaboration & teamwork

• The executive pastor often serves as the senior pastor’s closest partner, working as chief collaborator to make sure that their vision is accomplished. 
• The senior pastor and executive pastor likely meet on a weekly basis to pray and plan for the big-picture work of the church.

Balancing responsibilities

• The line between what is a senior pastor’s responsibility and what is an executive pastor’s responsibility varies from church to church, so it is important for executive and senior pastors to be in regular communication about where one’s responsibilities end and the other’s begin.
• In many churches, senior pastors handle the bulk of the weekly preaching, often much of the counseling, and even hospital visits. While the executive pastor usually handles human resources matters, facilities management, and financial stewardship. 
• However responsibilities are divided, it is important that the two leaders have regular, open lines of communication about their work so that nothing falls through the cracks of their miscommunication.

Enhancing church growth & effectiveness

• Different churches have different philosophies of church growth, but regardless it is the joint responsibility of the senior pastor and the executive pastor to be sure that the church is equipping its people to do the work of the Great Commission.
• If the local church is trying to grow its membership or consider church planting out of its congregation, the senior pastor and executive pastor must be on the same page about how this growth will happen and who will bear responsibility for the growth when it comes to practical matters like building expansion or financial stewardship.

Qualities every executive pastor should possess

So what makes a good executive pastor? Based on the typical roles and responsibilities we’ve explored throughout this article, here are just a few of the most common qualities a church should look for in their pursuit of an effective executive pastor.

Leadership skills

• It is likely that an executive pastor is responsible for managing more church staff members than anyone else—for this reason (and others) the executive pastor must be an excellent leader who knows how to direct others with grace and efficiency to accomplish the mission of the church.
• Great executive pastors are concerned with leadership development and preparing people in the church for ministry leadership. This responsibility requires the executive pastor to be a good leader himself.

Communication abilities

• Amid all of the programming and ministry that takes place in a church, there are countless emails, phone calls, and text messages exchanged in a given week. While an executive pastor is not the only one communicating, they are likely the Chief Communicator and must know how to communicate effectively.
• The executive pastor must be able to keep track of emails, return phone calls, and otherwise be a diligent communicator. If an executive pastor struggles to communicate, it can bottleneck the work of the whole church.

Organizational & strategic thinking

• An executive pastor must keep many plates spinning at once, so if they are  not organized, those plates will fall all around them. The executive pastor must have the ability and desire to put their nose to the grindstone and do work that may seem “mundane” and “boring” to be sure the work of the church is kept on track.
• Likewise, while the executive pastor manages the day-to-day of the local church, they must be thinking ahead, strategically planning how the church may grow and expand. While many voices will contribute to this work, it ultimately falls to the XP to maintain.

Adaptability & flexibility

• Unexpected circumstances arise in pastoral ministry all the time, the executive pastor must be quick on their feet and expect the unexpected at all times, lest they be caught off-guard and struggle to act in a time of uncertainty.
• While so much of the executive pastor’s work is keeping things on track and organized, the executive pastor must be willing to be flexible, changing plans or altering strategies when necessary, given the people-nature of ministry and all the disruptions that come with church work.

“Getting things done”

It is easy to think of the senior pastor as the primary leader of the church because of the title and because the senior pastor is usually the one under the spotlight on Sunday mornings. But the executive pastor is more often the primary hub of the church staff wheel, if you will. 

Some churches jokingly call their executive pastors the “pastor of getting things done,” which is a funny (and accurate) summation of how this pastor often serves the church.

Regardless of a church’s size, the executive pastor can serve a central role for any church in order to support its day-to-day operations and future growth opportunities.

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