Several area congregations are among the hundreds nationwide that will observe Easter services without a permanent pastor Sunday, but are well into a search process that could lead to a new minister.

To get the right match, pastors and churches trade vital information about one another. The process varies by church and by denomination.

Westminster Presbyterian Church, First Christian Church and Evangelical United Church of Christ are all in a search process for a new pastor. None has been without a minister for more than a year.

Cornerstone Church recently contacted a pastor, the Rev. James Guerrero, to serve as senior minister. Guerrero began March 17 after moving from Texas.

At First Christian Church, members of the congregation who are ordained have been filling the pulpit until a new pastor is found. The Rev. Phil Curran left the congregation last year after serving here for six years.

The search process can be as short as six months or as long as two or three years, depending on the congregation.

And with the current situation, "it's a seller's market," said Tom Schild, president of the council at Evangelical United Church of Christ in Cape Girardeau. That congregation, in the process of hiring an interim minister while it conducts a search for a permanent pastor, has had even interim candidates accept other jobs.

The Giddings-Lovejoy presbytery has offered help to Westminster in its search. The Rev. Miles White left the church almost a year ago after serving for 10 years.

Interim help

Losing a pastor is often devastating, even when a move is announced well in advance. Hiring an interim pastor can help a congregation move ahead with its duties particularly since some receive training specifically for interim work. Westminster did hire an interim, the Rev. Doug Scott, who has been serving since last summer.

"He just happened to come to the church after Miles left, and that's taken the pressure off us," said Robert Briner, who heads the pastor search committee.

The church narrowed its field of candidates to three, asking for sermon tapes and reviewing those before making a decision. At least one candidate will be visiting another area church soon so the committee can hear him preach.

Pastor clearinghouse

The denomination headquarters in Louisville, Ky., offers a clearinghouse for churches to send information forms about themselves which are then matched to forms completed by pastors.

Churches like to be right when they ask a pastor to serve, so filling out the forms accurately is important, said Bill Port, who serves as a regional consultant for the denomination.

The search is also a lengthy, complicated process. Some of the information in the forms is simply statistical data: history, church membership, budget, staff positions, programs. But another piece is a congregational survey that asks opinions about what type of minister the congregation would most like to see hired.

The members at Evangelical United Church of Christ just completed their survey. "We're just getting our profile developed," said Schild. "The conference advised us it could take six months to two years to find someone."

Members know that the search process is a lengthy one, he said. Committee members try to keep them updated weekly.

Making a match means not just finding a person to do the job but finding the right person for the job, and one who matches the church's personality.

And while some are anxious to get a pastor hired, others want to make sure the right person is found.

"We want to find the person that a majority of the people want to see brought in," he said.

ljohnston@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126