The Whitworth Group

The Whitworth Group We pair great church staff with great churches, "fitly joining" those that God has called and qualified.

Wanting a change and being called to a change are not the same thing.Sometimes they land in the same place. Sometimes wh...
09/04/2026

Wanting a change and being called to a change are not the same thing.

Sometimes they land in the same place. Sometimes what you're feeling isn't a calling at all ... it's exhaustion. Or a conflict you quietly stopped trying to resolve. Or a hard season that would follow you to the next church anyway.

That doesn't make the feeling wrong. It just makes it worth examining before you act on it.

The question I'd ask: am I moving toward something, or away from something? Both can be legitimate. But you should know which one you're working with before you move your family.

Something to think about this weekend.

The pressure to fill a position fast is real, and I don't think churches get enough credit for how real it is. Your staf...
09/03/2026

The pressure to fill a position fast is real, and I don't think churches get enough credit for how real it is. Your staff is covering extra ground. Ministries are running thin. Every Sunday the seat stays empty feels like something slipping.

But here's the math nobody runs in that moment: a rushed hire that doesn't fit costs you eighteen months, a painful exit, and a congregation that now watches the next hire with suspicion.

The empty seat was cheaper.

Move with urgency on the process ... return calls, keep candidates warm, don't let weeks disappear. Just don't rush the decision itself. Those are two different things, and churches tend to do the opposite of both.

If you've been through a hire that had to be undone, what would you do differently?

A résumé is a record of the past. A hire is a bet on the future.It'll tell you where someone served, what they built, ho...
09/02/2026

A résumé is a record of the past. A hire is a bet on the future.

It'll tell you where someone served, what they built, how long they stayed. All useful. What it won't tell you is what happens when giving drops, when a key volunteer leaves angry, or when the vision they inherited stops working.

That's the part that determines whether a placement lasts five years or eighteen months.

You don't find it by asking about their biggest win. You find it by asking about a season that didn't work and what they did next. The second answer tells you far more than the first one ever will.

Pastors, I'm curious: what's the one interview question you'd never skip?

Ask a pastor what's hard about ministry and almost nobody says the hours.They say the phone call they've been carrying s...
09/01/2026

Ask a pastor what's hard about ministry and almost nobody says the hours.

They say the phone call they've been carrying since Tuesday. The family in crisis they can't mention at dinner. The decision they know is right that half the room isn't going to like.

The work is manageable. Most leaders are genuinely good at the work. It's the weight that wears people down and it's the part nobody sees from the third row.

If that's your week right now, you're not doing it wrong. You're just carrying something real.

One question worth sitting with: who carries it with you?

"We just can't find the right candidate."I've heard that sentence from a lot of churches. And most of the time, the cand...
08/31/2026

"We just can't find the right candidate."

I've heard that sentence from a lot of churches. And most of the time, the candidates aren't the issue.

Here's what's usually happening instead: five people on the search team are picturing five different hires. One wants a builder. One wants a shepherd. One wants whoever can take the most off the lead pastor's plate. Nobody says that part out loud, so every résumé that comes in disappoints somebody.

That's not a candidate problem. That's a clarity problem. And no amount of applications will solve it.

The churches that move quickly are usually the ones that had the hard conversation before they posted anything.

If you've served on a search team, how long did it take your group to actually agree on what you were looking for?

Twenty years in ministry and I've watched it at every level. The title doesn't fix the person. It just hands them a bigg...
08/28/2026

Twenty years in ministry and I've watched it at every level. The title doesn't fix the person. It just hands them a bigger room to be that person in.

Including me.

The leaders I've seen stay healthy the longest all have one thing in common ... someone in their life who can tell them no and be heard.

Something to think about.

Who in your life is allowed to tell you no?

Every decision you make sets a direction.Not just this week. Not just this budget. Not just this hire.A direction.And di...
08/27/2026

Every decision you make sets a direction.

Not just this week. Not just this budget. Not just this hire.

A direction.

And direction has a destination ... whether you meant to pick one or not.

Something to think about.

If your church kept heading exactly the way it's heading right now, where does it end up in five years?

My dad said this from a stage years ago."People are people. Especially Christians."Two decades in ministry later, I thin...
08/26/2026

My dad said this from a stage years ago.

"People are people. Especially Christians."

Two decades in ministry later, I think about it almost every week. Because underneath every title, we're all still just people. Titles don't remove ego. They just give it a better seat.

I've watched people look the facts dead in the face and still go the other way.

Something to think about.

Who said something to you years ago that you're still thinking about? Share in the comments.

08/25/2026

Years ago my dad said something from a stage that I've never been able to shake:

"People are people. Especially Christians."

He was right. Underneath every title in ministry ... lead pastor, executive, elder, deacon ... we're all still just people. And people can look the facts dead in the face. The track record. The experience. The wisdom sitting right there in the room.

And still go the other way.

I've watched it happen. Here's the part I think we skip past: that one decision doesn't just affect this week. Or this budget. Or this hire.

It sets a direction. And direction has a destination.

A year without a youth pastor doesn't feel like a big deal ... until you do the math.That's roughly a quarter of a stude...
08/20/2026

A year without a youth pastor doesn't feel like a big deal ... until you do the math.

That's roughly a quarter of a student's entire high school experience. Not with a substitute, and not with a rotating cast of great volunteers ... without someone called, equipped, and present every week to shepherd them through some of the most important years of their life.

This isn't a knock on volunteers. TWG loves volunteers. But there's a difference between someone showing up and someone being called to be there. Kids know it. So do their parents.

Parents and pastors, have you seen this play out in your church? Tell us what changed when a role sat open too long.

Address

2109 West Market Street, Suite 100B
Johnson City, TN

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Tuesday 9am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 9am - 4:30pm
Thursday 9am - 4:30pm
Friday 9am - 4:30pm

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+14234057489

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