Central Student Pastor

The Central Student Pastor position is a chance to lock arms with senior leadership. TVC is a 1500-person, four-campus church. This specific position will be responsible for overseeing the student ministry, currently meeting at their Hastings campus on Sunday evenings and at their Middleville campus on Wednesday evenings. Their student ministry reaches 120 students per week and is growing exponentially.

TVC is passionate about reaching the next generation and connecting people with God. They want to provide a safe, fun, engaging, God honoring experience that students will want to attend every week. Their students have a blast while connecting with God and each other. The kids are on fire for the Lord. The right person can continue to grow this ministry!

Key Responsibilities:

• The Central Student Pastor is a 40+ hour a week position. This position will report directly to the Executive Pastor of Family Ministries and work on the Central Leadership Team. The primary focus of this position is to lead and oversee the student ministries at Thornapple Valley Church. This person must be passionate about reaching students who are far from God. They should be on fire for students, be a humble team player, highly collaborative with strong organizational and administrative skills, and be in full agreement with TVC and the direction they are heading.
• TVC is a fast-paced environment! They’re excited for a self-starter to lead this ministry. They have a current staff member who loves the students, plus an amazing volunteer team that needs to continue to grow. This new leader will care about details, while still developing the relationships that come with being a Student Pastor.
• The minimum experience for this position would be 3 years of professional student leadership experience in a church or para-church organization. Ideal candidate would have 5 years experience at a large multi-campus church, plus a 4-year Bible degree along with some formal youth ministry training.
• How You Are Wired:
  -Relational – You will work with many individuals and teams.
  -Leader – You will need to share the WHY behind what we do in compassion ministries so that people can be excited about joining you.
  -Character – You will be setting an example for others in this role. As such, you will need to exhibit a Godly character – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
  -Organized – You will need to process e-mails, phone calls, meetings, and information in a timely and forward moving manner.
  -Communicate – You will need to share your vision and set expectations with multiple teams, volunteers, and staff.
  -Christ Follower – You must have a love for Christ and a desire to continue taking Next Steps in your relationship with Him.
  -TVC Lover – You must be fully on board with TVC’s mission of connecting people with God, support our values of Serve and Connect, and be comfortable with the idea of being a serving church for unchurched people.
• What You Will Do:
  -Provide leadership oversight and cast vision to staff and volunteers on how to lead students in a way that connects them to God and helps them take next steps.
  -Build and develop staff and volunteer leadership team.
  -Submit to church leadership and run after the church’s overall vision.
  -Provide planning and organization for weekly gatherings at Hastings and Middleville campuses.
  -Champion relational small group time at weekly gatherings.
  -Use the Orange curriculum and go by their philosophy.
  -Teach 4-6x/year in adult services.
  -Discreetly handle sensitive information.
  -Other duties assigned by direct report.

What a Strong Candidate Would Look Like:

• Humble & Teachable: Works alongside TVC leadership and staff, while learning from each other. This is an absolute must.
• Gifted Communicator: Preaches with passion at student ministry and 4-6 weekends/year on the adult stage.
• Driven & Goal Minded: Thrives in an environment of hard work, while always seeking to accomplish big, God sized goals.
• Developer of Leaders: Cares for the team and the church, while building a strong team of staff and volunteers.
• Loves Students: Loves students and loves pouring into them; not looking for what’s next, but locked into student ministry for years to come.