In the fall of 2023, Pastor Scott announced that he was accepting God's invitation to step away from the role of lead pastor. We are so thankful for, and have been so blessed by, Scott's faithful leadership and care for this church for the past 25 years.

Following this announcement, the Leadership Team commissioned a Pastoral Search Team.

Pastoral Search Team Commission:

The Leadership Team has commissioned the Pastoral Search Team (PST) to, through wise discernment and prayer, present one candidate to our congregation to be considered as the next Lead Pastor of LifeSpring.

1. The Leadership Team requests the PST to listen to the congregation’s hopes, dreams, and concerns for the church and for the next Lead Pastor through listening meetings and/or surveys.

2. Next, the Leadership Team requests the PST to first consider any internal candidates from our current staff. This would involve formal discussion and interviews with any current staff who are interested in the role. If the PST discerns an internal candidate is a wise and good fit for the Lead Pastor role based on the input of the congregation, current staff, and Leadership Team, they will present this candidate to the church to be considered for the Lead Pastor role.
 

3. If the PST discerns that there are no internal candidates who are the right fit for the position, they will open the search to external candidates following established guidelines.

Per the process, the Pastoral Search Team and the Leadership team now eagerly present this letter of candidacy to the people of LifeSpring Covenant Church:

March 31, 2024

Dear LifeSpring Family,

Candidate for Lead Pastor
After much prayer, meetings, and discussion as a group, the Pastoral Search Team is delighted to unanimously recommend Pastor Tom Dierenfeld for consideration by the congregation for the next lead pastor of LifeSpring Covenant Church. The pastoral staff, references, and leadership team are also strongly aligned to recommend his candidacy.

Our Process
Our mandate from the leadership team was to listen to the congregational concerns and desires for the next lead pastor. Next, to prayerfully meet and first discern if there was an internal candidate that would meet the criteria prior to advancing to consideration of candidates outside of the church.

Top Characteristics our community desires
As a first step, we hosted 4 listening sessions with the congregation. Additionally, we asked the congregation to complete a survey online and reviewed the results to assess common themes. Thank you to those of you who took the time to meet and/or respond to the survey! It was wonderful to hear so many of you express your love for LifeSpring, the staff, and ministries of the church.
The following lists illustrate key themes from our listening sessions and the online survey:

          Top 5 Cultural Values the congregation would like to see continued:

             - Community outreach/ mission focused/ Justice & Mercy/ love in action

             - Love/ community care for each other/ relational church
             - Openness and friendliness/ family and welcoming atmosphere
             - Humility/ servant heart
             - Powerful sermons/ solid teaching

          Top 5 Characteristics of the Lead Pastor the congregation would like to see:
             - Bible knowledge/ Bible based sermons/ adhere to our Christian doctrine and core values/ preaching & teaching skills
             - Welcoming to new people/ kind/ gentle/ shepherd/ relational/ compassionate
             - Team and servant leadership/ delegate to others easily
             - Humility
             - Love for the Lord/ relationship with God/ cultural discernment/ know your culture

Staff Input
Following the listening meetings, we met with the ministry staff. We then met individually with both Pastor Elyse and Pastor Scott, who both expressed confidence in Tom’s character, faith, and leadership and strongly endorse his candidacy for the Lead Pastor position.

Reference Checks
We also completed 5 reference checks in which each person gave stellar reviews of Pastor Tom and fully supported his transition to lead pastor.

Extensive Interviews
Finally, our team conducted two extensive interviews with Pastor Tom. We were impressed with his passion for the mission of God through LifeSpring, especially our presence in the community and commitment to our neighborhood. Pastor Tom repeatedly articulated his love for LifeSpring and his alignment with our culture and values. He is ready and eager to shepherd LifeSpring in this next season, should the congregation approve Tom as the new Lead Pastor.

Prayerful Discernment
We believe Pastor Tom embodies many of the characteristics desired for the Lead Pastor of our church.

Several strengths that stood out to us were his desire and gift for preaching and his knowledge and love for God’s word. He spoke clearly of his vision for continuing to pursue emotionally healthy spirituality as foundational for continued growth in Christ-likeness, both individually and corporately.

We were impressed by his assessment of the current needs of the younger generation and the challenges they face to engage in church/ religion. He expressed a desire to sustain LifeSpring’s current culture and ministries and an openness to other areas where God might lead us to flourish.

We found Pastor Tom to be reflective and humble about what aspects of the lead pastor job may be challenging for him, and passionate about how that role will stretch him to grow in his spiritual and vocational life.

Our congregation has come to know and trust Tom as a pastor and friend. He and his family are a cherished part of our community. He is gifted, experienced in ministry, has a deep passion for Jesus, and will serve our church whole-heartedly if given the opportunity.

Respectfully,
The Pastoral Search Team
Brent Bromstrup, Paulo Brito, Diana Gray, Melanie Kolb, and Lacey Sharpe