Interviewing For Values
Some ask, “How do you infuse LifeChurch DNA into your new staff members?” The answer is we don’t.
DNA is fundamental; it is the “operating system” that drives who we are. If a person doesn’t already have your DNA in them, it is unlikely you can put it there, no more than you can change a person’s eye color.
When we interview prospective staff members, we first make sure the person has the capacity to do the job, spiritual maturity, and devotion to Christ’s church. Once the fundamentals have been established, we use a set of values to guide us through the process.
We ask questions to discern:
- Is this person teachable?
- Does this person have a strong work ethic?
- Is this person resilient?
- Do they exhibit the value of humility?
- Do they have a good sense of humor?
- Is this person flexible?
- Is this person relevant to the culture?
This week, we’ll walk through how we interview toward these values. (I’ll post a couple of times on some days to cover all the material this week.) How do we determine if a person’s values match the values of the organization? Let’s start with teach-ability.
No matter how talented or spiritually mature a person is, if they aren’t teach-able, they will not likely succeed in our environment.
We might ask one or more of these questions:
- What is something you’ve learned recently?
- What is something related to this ministry opportunity that you’re currently working on (or developing)?
- Who is currently mentoring you? (If they name someone, we’ll ask them to elaborate on what they’re learning. If they don’t name someone their answer tells us a lot.)
- When is the last time you failed and what did you learn?
Visit 
Looking forward to this week’s post Craig since we will soon be in the “market” to hire someone. When the gift of discernment is not a strong suit, finding the right one is often an effort in tail-chasing or perhaps more appropriately, rabbit chasing. On this post: I would suggest that even if a person has a good relationship with God but is unteachable that raises a yellow flag.
“Is this person relevant to the culture?” & DNA…nah, too easy.(grin)
thanks for all the fish.
I truly believe a good working relationship and God given chemistry go hand in hand. Every organization has a different working dynamic and fundamentals and even within the main organization, smaller pods have unique chemistry. Just as with any relationship….it either works or it doesn’t.
Bill, Thanks. Hope this week’s discussion is helpful as you look to hire soon.
Jimmy, Great to hear from you. It’s been awhile.
Jenn, Good words.
I will be tied up most of the day. Jerry Hurley will add to the discussion for me when he can. He is the best I know at this kind of stuff.
I don’t mean to be obtuse, but what exactly does this mean?
“Is this person relevant to the culture?”
At first I got the impression that this was very superficial, but I’m assuming I don’t really understand what it means.
This is more valuable than you can imagine. Thanks for giving so much. It’s remarkable to me that you and your Lead Pastors spend so much time in conversation here on Swerve.
It makes sense to ask these kinds of questions, and I imagine that you’ve found the right formula for interviewing after doing so many. I look forward reading the rest of this week!
I am looking forward to this. I find it to be one of the most challenging and important tasks I am responsible for. It is amazing how one staff member can impact the entire ministry. For the well being of the church and the people we bring on it is vital to make the right call.
Looking forward to the rest of the post in this series. One of the things that we’ve gone to doing is interviewing our volunteer leaders along these same lines. By volunteer leaders I mean volunteer leadership roles that would be paid staff roles if we could afford it.
Greatly enjoying and learning from your posts lately, Craig! Looking forward to the ones this week.
Dangerous prayers!
This is Jerry, Craig asked me to add to the discussion from time to time. Part of my role at LifeChurch is developing the human systems we use.
Cindy, maybe I can clarify the cultural relevance part. It is important that people on our team have the ability and desire to connect with seekers where they are. Sometimes as Christians we can isolate ourselves from the world around us.
Scott, your right, selecting the right people is all about learning. I have learned so much from others along the way, I hope sharing what little we have is helpful.
I am curious as to how in the top seven questions one of them was “Is this person relevant to the culture?”…
It seems that most of the people chosen by Jesus had little relevancy, in fact most of them were completely irrelevant, or even hated by the culture…
I seriously need to understand this line of thinking… maybe someone can help me out… or maybe that’s coming…. but I’m curious nevertheless…
In light of the recent series, is this a must for your staff, or is it a bonus?
I personally like some of those guidelines, but what are some thoughts about this?
Is this just talking about salvation, or ministers..?
1 Corinthians 1:26-28 (New International Version)
26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,
When I look at scripture, I see twelve men used by God as Apostles that had almost none of what was mentioned above, in fact many were the exact opposite…execpt for maybe one… and he turned out to be a traitor…
I don’t know, but I think sometimes we choose who ought to be used… based on our own criteria and desires…
I think some good guidelines might be this though…
Titus 1:5-9