Church & Position Profile

Kittanning Campus Pastor

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Kittanning, Pennsylvania

HISTORY & CURRENT STATUS

Harvest Church began with a handful of families in Kittanning, PA in 1998. By 2005 they were an energetic, young congregation of about 350 with 4 pastors, a part-time secretary and a part-time worship leader. Since then they have grown into a thriving church of over 1200 people, with four campuses, 8 pastors, a full time Children’s Director and Worship Pastor, a large, dynamic support staff, a thriving daycare/preschool ministry, and increased their global missionary presence by partnering with a dozen missionaries and sending hundreds of people on short-term mission trips.

But they're just getting started.

The Kittanning Campus breaks ground this fall to build a new, state-of-the art sanctuary. The next phase will include more classrooms, enlarged office space with conference room, enlarged modern kitchen facility, gathering spaces for small groups, a café and bookstore with reading areas.

Harvest continues to faithfully develop its people while not ignoring friends, family, and neighbors in their area, the three-million people in Western PA, or the 6,000 unreached people groups throughout the world.

CULTURE & LEADERSHIP

Harvest exists to "increase the health and size of God's church everywhere." They work hard to regularly remind the church of its mission so that they remain focused as one church in four locations. Everything Harvest does evolves from that mission, based on the twin pillars of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, and expressed with their commitment to:

walk with God
love one another
seek the lost.

Harvest's leadership style is marked by grace. The leaders do not micro-manage, but give their staff the freedom to self-manage, trusting them to fulfill their responsibilities in a timely manner as dictated by the needs of the tasks. The general attitude is one of positive reinforcement of individual strengths and the use of mistakes as an opportunity for personal growth, a type of “failing forward”.

As a result, the staff experiences a positive, encouraging environment, evidenced by care and mutual respect shared by the team, and this healthy environment lends itself to the stability and longevity of its staff.

Lead Pastor Mike Greiner (hired 2005) is an exceptional communicator who is committed to his staff and works well with Executive Pastor Fred Neal, Jr (hired 2009). Mike dreams dreams and casts vision, and Fred puts together plans and systems to make it happen. Mike invests in his staff by leading new pastors on staff through elder training, as each pastor serves as an elder. This time is also an opportunity to learn more about Harvest's values and culture.

Mike and Lorrie have been married for 35 years and have 5 children and 4 grandchildren. Mike is a Penn State grad and received his MDiv from Columbia International University and DMin from Southern Baptist Seminary.

Harvest is an non-denominational church with Southern Baptist roots. It is an elder-led church governed by a Board of Directors (Executive Elder Team, aka XET), consisting of the LP and XP (permanent members), as well as 4 non-vocational elders who serve a 1 year term. The Elder Team consists of both vocational (Pastors) as well as non-vocational elders from every campus.

Harvest operates as one church in four locations, while recognizing that each campus has different needs and strengths, based on its community setting. Every campus is led by its own Campus Pastor, who in turn, chooses and is supported by his own team of elders and deacons.

OPPORTUNITY

Harvest is a gospel-centered church, striving to put Jesus and his love for Armstrong County, Western Pa, and the world at the center of all they do. This is a true family who works hard and loves one another.

The Kittanning Campus is active. They are beginning a multi-million dollar building project, including a state-of-the-art sanctuary and building expansion. When completed, the entire façade of the building will be changed as well as the inside. The interior will have more classrooms, more meeting spaces, a dedicated bookstore, new office spaces, a media center, conference room, more children’s ministry rooms, and an expanded, lighted, and paved parking lot.

Additionally, the Kittanning Campus has a Daycare Ministry and before/after school program with plans to offer a pre-school program as well. They are also in the process of hiring a new Student Ministry Leader.

The ideal candidate will have tremendous people and leadership skills. Kittanning is an active campus of 650, and the campus pastor will oversee four full-time ministry staff. Strong management skills are essential. The campus pastor's focus is to invest in leaders and to equip the equippers.

Lead Pastor Mike does the bulk of the preaching, but the campus pastor can expect to preach approximately ten times a year.

CHALLENGE

The new campus pastor will be leading in the unchartered COVID territory. While Harvest has done a terrific job through the pandemic, there is still a learning curve for everyone.

The Kittanning campus is the largest and busiest of the Harvest locations. You will need to be a strong manager who can successfully navigate multiple details and relationships while remaining flexible. This will particularly be important through the building process where many changes will occur on a regular basis.

Both the lead pastor and executive pastor have offices at Kittanning. This provides a wonderful opportunity to interact with and brainstorm with them but, depending on your wiring, might feel overwhelming.

SLINGSHOT INSIGHT

I met with seven staff members and one lay elder and absolutely love the team and church. This is an exciting opportunity for a strong leader who is a good teammate and eager to be part of a team committed to making disciples.

The staff is united and supportive and have a healthy culture that allows and encourages "pushback." Team members and leaders want to know what you think, even if it's different from the others.

Harvest has active, vibrant, and strong children and youth ministries. There is no disconnect between what they learn on Sunday and what is preached to the adults, and their lessons include activities for families to do together, providing a pathway for spiritual growth for all. As in everything they do, the lessons are gospel-centered.

Harvest does not fear change and is open to developing new programs, ministries, and systems if they enable them to be more effective in its ministry to both church and community. Complacency and “we’ve always done it this way” does not exist here.

Harvest strives to develop authentic relationships with anyone who works with them, whether it is a community organization, a ministry team within the church, or the missionaries they support. They take a personal interest in all of their missionaries and encourage members and staff alike to regularly participate in short-term mission trips to support their work.

REGION & LOCATION

Harvest Church's Kittanning campus is located in beautiful Armstrong County, centrally located in the rolling, gentle hills of Western Pennsylvania and divided north to south by the picturesque Allegheny River. It's a region where early American history shakes hands with a promising future. Delaware Indians first established their principle town of Kit-Han-Ne in the 1730s at present day Kittanning, the county seat.

Armstrong County includes 65,000 residents and offers many diverse activities to be enjoyed by anybody who visits. Some of these activities include hunting, fishing, shopping, dining, camping, golfing, water adventures, parks, history, geo-caching, festivals, and fairs. And for those who enjoy trips into the city for professional sports and the arts, Pittsburgh is approximately 45 minutes away.

Learn more about the region at https://armstrongcounty.com/

POSITION SUMMARY

Overview:

Each Campus Pastor works under the direction of the Executive Elder Team while reporting directly to the Executive Pastor in order to launch, lead, establish, and develop the local campus. His responsibilities will be to lead the local campus through staff and volunteer team development toward the realization of the vision and mission of the church: increase the health and size of God’s church everywhere.

Qualifications

1. Meets the requirements of 1 Timothy 3:2-7 and Titus 1:6-9

2. Bachelor or seminary degree is preferred but not required

3. A minimum of 5 years in church leadership is preferred

Reports to

1. The Lead Pastor for spiritual oversight and preaching

2. The Executive Pastor for operational oversight

Skills & Abilities

1.A catalytic and visionary leader who can effectively work with and lead through multiple generations

2. A charismatic personality, able to connect with people and cast vision for fulfiling their role in the church body

3. Naturally connects and relates to people from all walks of life

4. Possesses exceptional multitasking skills, someone who can connect with people up close to cast vision but lead from a distance through delegation

5. Thinks organizationally and is gifted administratively

6. A good public communicator who doesn’t have to speak every week

7. Team builder who is able to both form and develop leaders

8. Team player who can shape as well as be shaped

9.Someone committed to finding creative, effective ways to reach people of all ages

Responsibilities

1.Pastor/Shepherd a growing, multi-generational congregation

2. Provide vision, support, and leadership for the campus staff and congregation through the upcoming building project

3. Oversee and supervise the operations and logistics of campus ministry

4. Transfer and incorporate the global church DNA to the campus and surrounding community

5. Initiate and facilitate efforts to serve, enrich and reach the surrounding community

6. Implement Harvest’s systems for all ministries at the campus

7. Identify, recruit and develop key ministry leaders

8. Host the worship services

9. Preach as assigned by the Lead Pastor

10. Teach

11. Provide leadership, input, and support to churchwide initiatives as needed

12. Attend all necessary leadership meetings/functions

CONTACT

Ready to take the next step?

To find out additional information about Harvest Church, visit
harvestpa.org to discover more about their core beliefs, vision, values, and to learn about the ministries of the church.

If, after prayerfully reviewing this information, you sense this role and church culture could be a good fit for you, contact Gregg Farah via any of the options below.

Gregg Farah// 646-335-3342 // gfarah@slingshotgroup.org