A friend wrote, “What do we do when the pastor search committee is taking so long that people are leaving? Some of our leaders are panicking.”
This is not a rare phenomenon. It happens.
The typical Southern Baptist church can expect the search process to take anywhere from 6 months to a year. If the church has unusual circumstances–a terrible reputation, poor finances, a history of infighting, or several candidates in a row have turned the committee down–the process could take longer than expected.
When people start leaving the church because no pastor has been found, seizing the first preacher available and recommending him is the worst of all possible options.