By Marv Knox
When Emmanuel Baptist Church in Alexandria, La., needed to hire staff to lead its children’s and youth ministries, it struck gold by mining its own resources.
The congregation called three long-term members—each with years of volunteer experience—to join its staff as bivocational ministers.
Regina and Kenneth Ervin joined Emmanuel 25 years ago and initially volunteered to work in the church’s youth ministry when their sons were growing up. But for the past four years, they have been co-directors of the youth ministry, while still holding their “day jobs.” She is a mental health counselor with her own practice, working with teenagers and adults. He is a nurse and director of the cardiac cath lab at the local hospital.
Sally Newcomer, a special-needs preschool teacher, became Emmanuel’s children’s ministry director. She and her husband, Scott, joined the church more than two decades ago and, across the years, she taught in the girls’ missions program and other classes. For the past six years, she has continued working for the local school system but also has led the congregation’s children’s programming and provided ministry to the kids’ families.
The decision to call out members to serve on staff reflects the church’s willingness to think both realistically and creatively about solving its ministry needs, Pastor Chris Thacker said.
“It’s getting more and more difficult for churches to find seminary-trained ministry leaders,” Thacker acknowledged. The congregation previously conducted traditional ministry searches—advertising vacant positions and looking for candidates from among ministers serving other churches.
When we went through this process the last time, we saw statistics that really concerned us,” he said. “We realized we might not find anybody, because there are so many churches looking for seminary-trained ministers, and there are more churches looking than there are candidates.”
That challenge can be compounded for churches in Emmanuel’s situation: Alexandria’s population is about 43,000, and it’s located across the Red River from Pineville, with 14,000 residents. Otherwise, Central Louisiana is rural and a couple of hours from larger cities. It’s not ideal for a ministry candidate who wants to live in an urban area or whose spouse is looking for specialized employment.
“We stepped back and asked the question: ‘How necessary is it for a candidate to have a seminary degree?’” Thacker reported. “If that person is theologically sound, an effective teacher of the Bible and is effective in shaping spiritual formation, how necessary is it that they went to seminary?”
When Emmanuel looked at its resources and alternatives, its hiring answer seemed simple, he said.
“The decision to hire Kenneth and Regina and Sally was based on their gifts and their connections to this church,” he explained. “All three of them had been plugged in and had served Emmanuel in remarkable ways. And for us, it was just a matter of asking, ‘Can we create job descriptions that fit with your still having full-time careers, but also allow you to give your best to enable youth ministry and children’s ministry to thrive?’”
Although Newcomer and the Ervins cited Thacker as the one who invited them to consider their ministries, they all said his invitations echoed earlier experiences.
“When I was a child, I thought I might be a missionary, or I might go off somewhere wonderful and have some great adventure because God called me to it,” Newcomer said. “I was a little sad that I never had that great calling. I got married and had children and followed what I love to do, which is teaching.
“But the whole time, I was listening to God. And just when I thought, ‘Okay, I’m getting past the age where anything new or exciting is happening,’ God called me to the church job…God calls us to things in unexpected ways when we least expect it.”
Similarly, the invitation to join Emmanuel’s staff was “not a new calling,” Regina Ervin reported. “Actually, in undergrad, I studied religion with the intention of doing youth ministry. It didn’t work out…and so I went into mental health and worked with teenagers; I’ve always enjoyed that age.
“And this opportunity presented itself at a time that was really good for me. So, it’s not a new calling. It really feels like a full circle.”
Kenneth Ervin noted his life experiences pointed him toward youth ministry, even before he and Regina served as volunteers when their sons were teens. “I grew up with a big youth department,” he recalled. “We grew spiritually as well as physically. We had a support system, and we had leaders who provided assistance and compassion and worked with us through our teenage years and into adulthood.”
Before he earned his nursing degree, he earned a bachelor’s degree in music, which has provided a solid foundation for ministering to youth and creating a strong music program for them.
Several accommodations have coalesced to make the vital yet part-time positions work.
Because these three staff members cannot be at the church during weekdays, one of the congregation’s office workers provides administrative assistance—such as managing communication with the church, students and parents, as well as managing calendars—that helps smooth out the logistics of their ministries.
The full church staff also conducts a once-a-month meeting for everybody on staff to attend after-hours, Thacker said, noting, “We do it so we can all sit in the same room and be on the same page.”
Also, since the part-time ministers don’t have the networks that might have formed during seminary and expanded by attending professional conferences, the seminary-trained ministers try to help fill in the gaps. For example, they connect their Emmanuel colleagues with peers in other churches and also help vet teaching materials.
Newcomer also noted she has connected with groups on social media and with other children’s ministers at camp and other gatherings. “That has really been the most helpful way to learn how to do this job—just connecting with other people who are doing it, too,” she said.
The support of the church’s parents makes a huge difference, Kenneth Ervin added. “These parents have been a great inspiration for us. They appreciate us, and they tell us, ‘We’re so glad you’re in this role.’ So, the church encourages us and wants us to continue to do it as long as we can, and that is very encouraging for us.”
Even so, holding down two jobs is challenging, the Ervins and Newcomer acknowledged. Most weeks, they can’t find enough time to do everything they feel they need to do, particularly at home and at church. They struggle to balance the demands of day job, church job and family. And sometimes, they just get tired.
But challenges aside, the calling to minister in the context of their longtime congregations is strong.
“We live in a world that’s hard on kids,” Newcomer said. “We expect a lot of our children. So to have a place where they can come and be loved by people in the church—and to know God loves them—is so important.
“And I feel a children’s ministry is something so special that I hope more people who are not seminary graduates will think about serving in a children’s ministry role. Our kids are so important. Kids need to know how much God loves them, and they deserve the best.”
Ministry to youth is equally vital, Regina Ervin added.
“This time in your life is so important,” she stressed. “You’re growing so much, and this is where so many of your beliefs—about yourself, about others, the world and God—are developing and being challenged.
“This is where you launch into the adult world, and so that’s why it’s important to me to minister to youth.”
Emmanuel Baptist Church’s experience with the Ervins and Newcomer demonstrates how congregations can find exemplary staff leaders by looking to their laity, stressed Colin Kroll and Brian Foreman, CBF staff members who developed and promote the Called in Context initiative.
Calling ministers out of their own church context—just as Emmanuel has done—demonstrates staff leaders don’t have to be seminary-trained or full-time to be effective, explained Foreman, CBF’s coordinator of congregational ministries. “By being open-minded, intentional and creative, many churches can find staffing solutions sitting in their own pews,” he said.
“Emmanuel shows how Called in Context can help congregations develop and promote staff leadership from among volunteers involved in their ministries,” added Kroll, CBF’s young adults ministry manager. “Kenneth, Regina and Sally already were ministering in this church. Now, they have even more freedom and agency in their leadership, which makes the congregation even stronger.”
Regina Ervin urged laypeople thinking about filling vacancies in their churches to take a leap.
“If you have the desire or the interest, follow your curiosity,” she said. “There may be opportunities that are less traditional, and they might not even be on anyone’s mind until you bring it up, until you seek that out. If you have the desire, follow that. Just check it out.”