The Executive Pastor of Ministries at Washington Heights Church serves as a senior ministry leader responsible for helping the church faithfully and effectively accomplish its mission, helping people meet and follow Jesus, through the alignment, development, and coordination of its ministries and ministry leaders.

Working closely with the Lead Pastor and church leadership, the Executive Pastor of Ministries provides strategic oversight for the church's ministry ecosystem - ensuring that individual ministries do not operate in isolation but work together toward a shared vision, mission, and strategy.

The primary focus of this role is ministry effectiveness & alignment: developing leaders, connecting ministries, establishing priorities, stewarding people and resources, and ensuring that the church's human and financial resources are deployed where they can have the greatest Kingdom impact.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Ministry Strategy & Alignment

Translate the church's mission, vision, & strategic priorities into actionable ministry objectives.

Provide leadership and coordination across the church's ministry areas.

Help ministries understand how individual efforts contribute to the overall mission.

Identify gaps, duplication, silos, and opportunities for collaboration.

Establish and maintain ministry priorities, rhythms, & measurable outcomes in partnership with the Lead Pastor and leaders.

Regularly evaluate ministry effectiveness & recommend adjustments based on mission alignment, fruitfulness, participation, & available resources.

Help the church maintain a unified ministry philosophy & discipleship pathway across generations and ministry environments.

Leadership Development & Oversight

Recruit, develop, coach, & provide accountability for leaders and staff.

Establish healthy leadership expectations, communication rhythms, & performance practices for teams.

Develop a culture of collaboration, trust, excellence, humility, & shared ownership of the church's mission.

Identify emerging leaders & create pathways for leadership development.

Facilitate meetings with ministry leaders to encourage alignment, address challenges, & coordinate initiatives.

Serve as a coach and strategic resource to ministry leaders rather than simply managing day-to-day responsibilities.

Human & Financial Resource Alignment

Work with the Lead Pastor, Director of Operations, & leadership teams to align staffing & resources with ministry priorities.

Help determine where people, staff capacity, volunteers, & funding can produce the greatest Kingdom impact.

Participate in annual planning & budgeting process by identifying ministry priorities & resource needs.

Evaluate ministry investments based on mission alignment, effectiveness, stewardship, & strategic importance.

Advocate for appropriate resources for high-priority initiatives while encouraging stewardship.

Collaborate with the Director of Operations to ensure ministry plans are supported by sound financial and operational practices.

Cross-Ministry Collaboration

Build bridges between departments, generations, & ministry environments.

Encourage ministries to share volunteers, ideas, systems, & resources to advance the overall mission.

Coordinate churchwide initiatives that require ministry collaboration.

Help resolve ministry-level conflicts, competing priorities, & organizational tensions.

Ensure that ministry calendars, initiatives, & communication are coordinated to support the church's overall direction.

Promote a "one church team" mentality rather than independent silos.

Ministry Health & Effectiveness

Develop appropriate measures for evaluating ministry health & effectiveness.

Regularly assess whether ministries are producing meaningful spiritual and relational outcomes.

Monitor participation, volunteer engagement, leadership health, discipleship outcomes, & other ministry indicators.

Help ministry leaders move from simply maintaining programs to pursuing meaningful outcomes.

Identify ministries or initiatives that need revitalization, restructuring, additional support, or strategic transition.

Encourage innovation while maintaining alignment with the church's theological convictions, mission, & values.

Pastoral Leadership & Care

Serve as a pastoral presence to ministry leaders, staff, & volunteers.

Participate in pastoral care, counseling, prayer, teaching, worship, services, & other pastoral responsibilities as appropriate to individual gifting & the church needs.

Encourage & support other leaders through seasons of challenge, change, growth, & transition.

Model spiritual maturity, servant leadership, integrity, humility, & dependence upon Christ.

Help cultivate a healthy spiritual culture among the church staff & ministry leaders.

Senior Leadership Partnership

Serve as a trusted strategic partner & sounding board to the Lead Pastor.

Help the Lead Pastor maintain appropriate focus on preaching, vision, pastoral leadership, & key external relationships by providing leadership & coordination across ministry areas.

Bring ministry opportunities, challenges, & recommendations to the Lead Pastor with clarity & discernment.

Participate in senior leadership discussions & strategic planning.

Help turn leadership decisions into coordinated ministry action throughout the church.

Executive Pastor of Ministries - Primary Focus

Ministry strategy
Ministry alignment
Ministry leaders & staff development
Discipleship & spiritual formation
Cross-ministry collaboration
Ministry effectiveness
Staffing priorities
Resource allocation
Pastoral leadership & care
Implementation of the church's mission through ministry
Operational policies & procedures
Technology & infrastructure, as assigned
Business processes & organizational support

Qualifications

Spiritual & Character

Demonstrates a mature & growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Evidences a strong commitment to the Bible, prayer, discipleship, & the mission of the local church.

Demonstrates character consistent with the biblical qualifications for church leadership.

Exhibits humility, emotional maturity, integrity, wisdom, & servant leadership.

Has a passion for helping people encounter Christ, grow as disciples, & participate in God's mission.

Experience & Leadership

Significant experience leading ministries and/or teams in a local church setting.

Demonstrated ability to lead through influence, collaboration, & relationship rather than positional authority.

Proven ability to develop leaders & build healthy teams.

Experience coordinating multiple ministry areas/departments is preferred.

Demonstrated ability to think strategically while also ensuring effective execution.

Strong organizational, communication, conflict-resolution, & decision-making skills.

Ability to evaluate ministries & make decisions regarding priorities, staffing, programs, & resources.

BA in ministry, theology, leadership, organizational development, or a related field preferred. Theological education or equivalent ministry experience may be considered.

Leadership Competencies

Missionally focused - consistently asking, "Does this help us accomplish what God has called our church to do?"

Relationally strong - able to build trust across diverse ministries, personalities, & generations.

Strategic - able to see the whole church rather than simply one department.

Developmental - committed to growing leaders rather than owning every problem.

Collaborative - naturally builds bridges & breaks down silos.

Resourceful - able to align people, time, money, & energy around the highest priorities.

Pastoral - leads people with compassion, wisdom, & spiritual discernment.

Decisive - willing to make difficult choices for the health & mission of the church.

Adaptable - able to lead effectively through growth, change, & organizational complexity.

Kingdom-minded - measures success by transformed lives & mission impact rather than organizational size or activity.

MEASURES OF SUCCESS

The church's ministries operate from a shared mission & strategy.

Ministry leaders understand how their work contributes to the overall mission.

Ministries collaborate effectively rather than competing for resources or attention.

Leaders are developed & equipped for greater responsibility.

Human & financial resources are aligned with the church's highest ministry priorities.

Lead Pastor is supported & able to focus on primary pastoral and visionary responsibilities.

Church has increasing clarity about what ministries to start, strengthen, simplify, or discontinue.

Staff & volunteer leaders experience greater clarity, health, accountability, & support.

The church is increasingly effective in reaching people outside of faith & seeing them grow in faith.

REPORTING AND KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Reports to: Lead Pastor

Works with:
Lead Pastor
Director of Operations
Vision Team
Directors and Pastors
Church Board
Key volunteer leaders

Direct reports:
As determined by the church's organizational structure, typically including ministry pastors/directors & other leaders responsible for major ministry areas.

The Executive Pastor of Ministries is a unifier, developer, and strategic ministry leader.

This person does not exist to become the manager of every ministry detail or to duplicate responsibilities of the Director of Operations. Rather, the Executive Pastor of Ministries helps the church answer three essential questions:

What has God called us to accomplish?
How should we work together to accomplish it?
How can we align people and resources for the greatest impact?

Executive Pastor of Ministries leads with the conviction that organizational alignment is not an end in itself-it is a means of helping the church faithfully & effectively fulfill its mission of making disciples & advancing the Gospel.