Welcome to this episode of the Nine Marks Pastors Talk.

I'm Jonathan Lehman and I'm here with Mark Devere.

Hey, Jonathan.

Hi, Mark.

Well, in case you don't know about Nine Marks, it exists to equip church leaders with a biblical vision and practical

resources for building healthy churches. Learn more at nine marks.org.

You're still here? I thought you were going through this other church. Not yet. Okay.

And even when I do, I'll still be working for

nine marks. And you and I will still be having these conversations formally. So we're like a multi-sign

parish church ministry. That's exactly what we are. Okay. I'm down with that. All right.

Speaking of churches, Mark, let's talk about you leaving Capitol Baptist Church. Okay.

Specifically, let's talk about what CHBC as well as every

other church should do to find a new pastor. Well, that's an important topic that I talk about from

time to time, and I talk to search committees probably, I don't know, once every two or three

weeks. So why should the average listener, whether a church leader or church member, stop and give

at least 20 minutes of thought to this conversation? Why is this an important topic?

Well, I think I actually have to begin there with the pastor, because often pastors feel like,

well, that's one thing I don't have to worry about. When I would go like, no, brother, that's actually your, in some ways, you're one of your most fundamental worries because you put all this time and effort.

And the souls that you've been serving exist eternally, these people, but you want this

witness of the local church to continue as long as it's able. So just like you pour love and

encouragement into members of your family and into other people you know and care for, you want to see them continue on even, you know, after you're dead or after you all don't live in the same place.

You know, you're not in their lives as regularly.

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