Pastor of Adult Ministries

THE OPPORTUNITY

Liberty Heights Church is a large and thriving Southern Baptist Church located in the suburbs of northern Cincinnati (OH). The church has two locations, with one central Sending Campus in Liberty Township plus one nearby satellite campus in the community of Lebanon. LHC also has a vision for a future satellite campus in the suburbs located to the southeast of the Sending Campus. All campuses of LHC have live teaching. Each of these multi-generational congregations is located in communities that are growing rapidly with young families. In addition, the church has launched two mission-campus ministries in the last 6 years (a Hispanic service at the Sending Campus and an Inner-City ministry serving a high-needs community). Mission and service exist at the center of Liberty Heights’ ministry vision.

Liberty Heights is governed by four core values: Dependent Prayer, The Priority of Relationships (Biblical Community), The Authority & Sufficiency of Scripture, and Involvement over Attendance. These values drive the church towards dependence on God, His Word, and other Christians.

The church is contemporary in approach to worship and discipleship and employs an expository teaching style. They place a great emphasis on transformational application through a deeper understanding of how the affections of our hearts drive one's behavior. They have a clear discipleship strategy that flows from preschool to adulthood and is executed through both large and small groups.

Liberty Heights has an average Sunday attendance of close to 1200 people with over 1500 regular attenders. The central Sending Campus in Liberty Township has an average Sunday morning attendance of 900 people meeting in two services. Over a decade ago, LHC replaced an aging Sunday School ministry with a small group model. Most groups gather weekly to participate in sermon discussion that empowers them to “put legs under” the most recent sermon. Like many churches that employ groups as a main vehicle in their discipleship strategy, LHC lives in the constant tension of recruiting new leaders and effectively launching new groups. Despite these inherent struggles, LHC remains committed to a discipleship model that places a high value on the priority of Biblical community.

Liberty Heights is staff-led with the LHC Pastoral Team functioning in the biblical role of elders. The administrative functions of LHC are overseen by a 7-person Admin Team of lay leaders (https://lhc.life/adminteam). This team works in harmony with the Pastoral Leadership Team to deal with the accountability, encouragement, and oversight of all professional staff matters, as well as the accountability and oversight in all matters pertaining to financial integrity and stewardship. 

THE COMMUNITY

Liberty Township, Ohio is a fast-growing, conservative-leaning community that was considered a rural suburb just 25 years ago but has seen tremendous middle-to-upper class growth in recent years. The area tends to be highly educated, white collar, and affluent. Proctor & Gamble and General Electric are headquartered in the Cincinnati area and engineers and executives make up a large part of the local community bringing diversity to the area. The area surrounding both campuses is home to several of the largest school districts within the state. The Cincinnati area is also home to a huge community of those practicing the Catholic faith but has experienced a rapid rise in evangelical church growth over the past two decades. Cincinnati has been named a Send City by the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and has a strong presence of church plants in the local area.

THE CANDIDATE

The main areas of focus for the Pastor of Adult Ministries will be direct leadership of LHC’s Evangelism and Discipleship ministries with additional oversight in the areas of assimilation & care and the church’s Biblical Counseling ministry. The largest area focus will be on executing LHC’s existing discipleship strategy with a huge emphasis on strengthening the Small Groups ministry.  

The Pastor of Adult Ministries will be part of LHC’s Senior Leadership Team that consists of LHC’s Lead Pastor, Director of Operations, Director of Family Ministries, and Director of Worship. The current structure of this role is a direct report to the Lead Pastor. The Pastor of Adult Ministries will oversee the existing biblical counseling staff (https://www.hopecc.life/) as well as a Next Steps Coordinator who leads the church’s assimilation efforts. 

The ideal candidate needs to be a vibrant recruiter/developer/coach for small group leaders with a passion for seeing people grow in relational environments. They will be a leader of teams and a developer of people. They must be relational but not at the expense of being adept at building and managing systems and structure. The candidate will not have a large role on the regular Sunday morning teaching team, but they must be an effective communicator as they will be the “main teacher” in other discipleship settings. 

THE QUALIFICATIONS

• Preferred candidates will have a Master’s degree from an accredited evangelical seminary
• High value will be placed on candidates with biblical counseling training
• Mid-to-large church experience—preferred candidates will have experience serving as a lead pastor in a church >400 or as an associate in a church >750
• Demonstrable record of leading growth (ideally with a focus in discipleship ministry)
• Emphasis on candidates who are not currently enrolled in school or have plans to go back to school in the near future (as the role will require immediately getting up to speed)
• Qualified applicants must affirm the Baptist Faith & Message (2000) https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/
• Candidate must embrace the church’s doctrinal position without reservation and be an advocate of the church's philosophy of ministry both in public and in private.

TO APPLY - PLEASE FORWARD COVER LETTER & RESUME TO: CHRIS.ANDERSON@LIBERTYHEIGHTS.ORG