I love The Essential Church and what the Lord Jesus is doing here. The Lord gave me the name for the church and the vision for the church as of late, telling me in no uncertain terms to push forward with this internet church plant and do something that will truly stand as a testimony to who He is. The Lord gave me the call to Pastor a church, to shepherd a flock, and I haven’t been able to slow down since.

One thing the Lord has laid upon my heart these last few weeks has been the need to grow the Body of Christ, to have a Pastoral team working with me to accomplish the work of the Lord. The Lord chose 12 disciples to train and prepare for Kingdom work, and I dare not presume that I alone am sufficient to carry on all the work of the ministry in The Essential Church. The name of our church, The Essential Church, is designed to bring us back to what the Church of Jesus Christ should be: one-elder or one-pastor rule does not fit the model. There were 12 apostles active in the Word and in prayer (see Acts 6:4), and if the early church needed 12, why do modern-day churches need only 1?

So, with that said, The Essential Church is seeking volunteer Pastors who have a heart for pastoring, love the Lord, but can’t seem to find a place to call home to work out the gift of pastoring the Lord has given them. We here at The Essential Church expect the volunteer pastor to be able to teach and preach and have a working knowledge of both the Old and New Testaments. We also expect the Pastor to adhere to certain doctrines: namely, 1) the belief that Jesus died for every person and that any one can be saved (no “Jesus died for the elect” only view here); 2) women are welcome in all levels of ordained ministry: preaching, pastoring, teaching, and can serve as deacons; and 3) Scripture is inerrant in all it reports (the inerrancy of Scripture). Other doctrines a preaching and teaching pastor are expected to hold are that 1) God foreknows all things and nothing takes Him by surprise (the Doctrine of Divine Foreknowledge), 2) the sovereignty of God, 3) the responsibility of man in salvation to repent and believe the gospel (human responsibility, not divine responsibility), and the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, or, “God in Three Persons”).

You also need to know that the Pastoral Staff we’re looking to accompany me in the work of the church will be volunteer in nature. Currently, I serve as Pastor with no income from this effort. This will be a resume-building position for someone who has a desire but isn’t needed in their current church setup in terms of pastoring (a Pastor is or Pastors are already in place) and is looking for new ground on which to plant a church. If you’re looking for experience and an opportunity to grow in the Word of God and see what the Lord will do through The Essential Church, we’d love to have you join in with us. There’s more to tell, but we want to hear from you first.

For interested parties, please contact us by using the Contact form at the top right of the main screen, or send an email to essentialpastor@gmail.com with the words “I want to be a volunteer pastor” in the subject line.  In your email, give us your name, age, and why you believe you’re qualified to serve as a volunteer Pastor of The Essential Church. Please mention how you heard about our Pastoral positions in your email.

There will be more announcements in the coming days, as we here at The Essential Church are looking to fill certain positions in our church. We ask for your prayers, that you would pray without ceasing for us, and that you would tell neighbors, family, friends, and acquaintances about the work we’re doing. We love you all and can’t wait to see how the Lord moves through this job ad to the praise of His glory.

God Bless.

Pastor D.M. Richardson

The Essential Church

World Wide Web