Church staffs in Alabama change to meet needs

Times, they are a’changin’. And so is the structure of some church staffs to encompass more ministry possibilities and specialized needs.
   
Although there is still room — and the need — for the traditional foundation of pastor, associate pastor, music minister and youth minister, many new and highly focused positions are being established in churches.
   
For example, Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Vestavia Hills has a minister of evangelism and assimilation, reports Banks Corl, the church’s minister of education.
   
“It’s a rare kind of title,” said Dale Huff, director of LeaderCare and church administration with the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. He explained that a person in that role would have the responsibility of helping people find a place to serve in the church.
   
Ames Pittman, who holds the position at Shades Mountain, will be working to train and mobilize the laity, said Corl.
   
The church also added an executive pastor in September, Corl said. That person’s duties include making executive decisions without the pastor’s direct involvement, as well as seeing projects to their completion.
   
At The Church at Brook Hills, which works with both the Birmingham and Shelby associations, there is a minister of creative ministries (drama, etc.), a director of technical ministries, a director of visual arts (sets and the like) and a pastor of worship, said Jim Houston, the associate pastor.
   
Meadow Brook Baptist Church in Shelby Association has an associate pastor of administration; First Baptist Church, Gadsden, has a minister of senior adults and administration; and The Church at Brook Hills has a pastor of administration, John Herring. He oversees buildings and financial aspects and also focuses on discipleship.
   
First Baptist Church, Dothan, has a minister of fine arts and a minister of community ministries. Philip Wise, the church’s senior pastor, said Cindy Smith, minister of fine arts, directs the church’s school of fine arts, which serves the community too. She also is the organist and directs the children’s and handbell choirs.
   
Connie Markham, minister of community ministries at First, Dothan, facilitates many outreach projects. Wise said the church has a community ministries building where a large number of activities are held. There is a clothes closet and food closet, where hundreds of people get assistance each year. Financial assistance, tutoring and literacy classes are available. Various outreach projects are held in the city’s housing communities. And a Bible study seeks to reach black boys in the community who do not attend First, Dothan.
   
A few hours north of Dothan is Harold Hancock, minister of missions and media at First Baptist Church, Montgomery. He has held that position for six years and was one of the first ministers of missions in the state.
   
Huff said there are three or four ministers of missions in Alabama now. He noted it is a relatively new concept in Alabama Baptist life. These people promote missions efforts of the Southern Baptist Convention and special projects.
   
Hancock describes his responsibilities as giving direction by working through the missions committee of the church and offering leadership and inspiration for volunteer missions teams. Also, there is an emphasis on evangelism in Montgomery through Bible groups and the North American Mission  Board (NAMB).
   
By the end of the year, volunteers from First, Montgomery, will have made at least five missions trips abroad — to Mexico twice, Kenya, the Caribbean Basin and Mozambique. Hancock  plans the trips in cooperation with the International Mission Board, NAMB, local and state associations, works out the logistics and travel arrangements and challenges the congregation to give to missions.
   
Some new titles being worn now are actually updated names for traditional positions. In several cases, though, the focus has been broadened or narrowed.
   
The minister of discipleship, for instance, is a new trend coming out of seminaries, said Huff. It is being used now instead of “minister of education,” but entails more duties.
   
The title of minister of youth is being used less and minister of students more. The reason, Huff said, is that the latter can encompass everything from first grade through college.
   
Another trend that has come about in the last 10 years is the title senior pastor. As for minister of music, the tendency now is to use worship leader, said Huff.