Lead Pastor

Baptist – sbc WEEKLY ATTENDANCE: 800 Meet Westside Baptist Church

Westside Baptist Church is a Christ-centered church in Murray, Kentucky, committed to glorifying God by making disciples locally and around the world. The church emphasizes biblical teaching, discipleship, missions, fellowship, and serving others, with ministries for children, students, college students, and adults. It seeks to build a welcoming community where people can grow in their faith and develop meaningful relationships. Through worship, small groups, outreach, and service, Westside encourages members to live out their faith and share the gospel with others.

The church’s focus is to see every person treasure Jesus with their head, hearts, and hands.

The Lead Pastor’s primary role at Westside Baptist Church is to preach the Word of God, shepherd the people of Westside to treasure Jesus, and cast vision to lead Westside to make disciples of all nations. He will serve collaboratively alongside the other pastors and ministry staff while providing overall spiritual and organizational leadership to the staff and congregation. The Lead Pastor should seek to know, feed, love, and lead the people of Westside, faithfully stewarding the responsibility God has entrusted to him.

He should model Christ-like character, cultivate a culture of discipleship and evangelism, develop leaders, and lead the church toward greater faithfulness to its mission, vision, and values.

To effectively shape the people of Westside by the Word of God, the Lead Pastor must:

• Be a gifted communicator with strong preaching and teaching abilities.
• Consistently preach engaging, theologically sound, and Scripture-centered sermons that deepen biblical understanding and lead to spiritual growth.
• Faithfully proclaim the whole counsel of God while clearly pointing people to the gospel and the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• Lead the development and planning of sermon series in collaboration with the other pastors and staff.
• Provide leadership and direction for worship services in partnership with the other pastors.
• Demonstrate a lifelong commitment to studying God’s Word and pursuing ongoing spiritual, theological, and emotional growth.
• Maintain doctrinal integrity consistent with the Baptist Faith and Message (2000).

The Lead Pastor ought to seek to know, feed, love, and lead the people of Westside. To do so, he must:

• Cultivate genuine, personal relationships with members of the congregation across generations and stages of spiritual maturity.
• Embody a welcoming, accessible, relational, and hospitable presence within the church and community.
• Model Christ-like compassion, humility, integrity, and care in his relationships with others.
• Provide spiritual counseling, pastoral visitation, and support to individuals and families during times of need and as appropriate.
• Practice intentional disciple-making with staff, lay leaders, and members of the congregation.
• Mobilize pastors, staff, deacons, and lay leaders to participate in the pastoral care and discipleship of the congregation while leading by example.
• Encourage a culture of hospitality, belonging, unity, and mutual care throughout the church.
• Demonstrate an ability to connect with people across boundaries of age, race, spiritual maturity, and social status.

To lead the people of Westside to embody our mission, vision, and values, the Lead Pastor must:

• Provide overall leadership and direction for the pastoral and ministry staff.
• Evaluate staff on a regular basis in collaboration with the personnel team.
• Lead and equip staff and lay leaders with wisdom, grace, clarity, and…