Executive Search
·6 min read
When Is Your Church Ready to Hire an Executive Pastor?
Is your church ready to hire an Executive Pastor? Learn the leadership signals that indicate readiness and why clarity before the search matters most.
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Love + Lead · Insights for Senior Pastors & Executive Teams
Clarity Before the
Most Important
Decisions.
Research, reflection, and practical wisdom for church leaders navigating executive hires, team alignment, and leadership transitions. Grounded in Gospel-centered leadership formation.
Chris Folwell
PhD Candidate in Gospel-Centered Executive Leadership
Master of Theological Studies · Theology
Founder, Love + Lead
Pillar Topics
Three Areas of Deep Focus
Each pillar is supported by a cluster of articles written to serve Senior Pastors at the moment they need guidance most.
View all 13 articlesThe Research Foundation
Why Gospel-Centered Formation Matters for Executive Leaders
My PhD research explores a tension I have observed consistently in my work with church executive teams: executive leadership in the church is often developed with a strong emphasis on operational effectiveness, while the integration of Gospel-centered theological formation receives less intentional attention.
Much of the leadership literature available to church leaders, even within explicitly Christian contexts, draws from management theory and focuses on systems, structures, and measurable outcomes. Formation is typically discussed in pastoral or discipleship contexts, while leadership is framed in organizational terms. The result is that many leaders feel a persistent tension between the organizational demands of their role and their desire to lead in ways that remain faithful to their calling.
The content on this site is an attempt to bridge that gap and offer frameworks that are both organizationally sound and theologically grounded, for leaders who refuse to treat those two things as separate goals.
"The issue is not simply that formation is missing, but that it is disconnected from the operational realities of executive leadership."
Chris Folwell
Section 2: Reframing the Literature-Informed Research Problem, 2026
Recent Insights
From the Research & Practice
Executive Search
·7 min read
The Love + Lead Hiring Process: Why We Start With the Church's Story
The Love + Lead search starts with the Senior Pastor's story, not a resume. Understanding church culture first produces executive placements that last.
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Leadership Formation
·8 min read
What Gospel-Centered Executive Leadership Actually Looks Like in Practice
Gospel-centered leadership is more than a phrase. Explore what it looks like in practice: how it shapes decisions, handles failure, and develops teams.
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Leadership Formation
·7 min read
Accountability With Warmth and Clarity: A Framework for Church Leaders
Many churches struggle with accountability or make it feel confrontational. This framework reframes it as an act of care, the posture that builds genuine team health.
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Complex Hires
·6 min read
Hiring a Youth Pastor for a Large Church: What the Search Process Gets Wrong
The experienced Youth Pastor pipeline is narrowing as the best are promoted to executive roles. Here is how large churches can adjust their search strategy.
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Complex Hires
·5 min read
Why the Best Church Staff Candidates Aren't Looking for a Job
The best church staff candidates are rarely on job boards. Passive candidates consistently outperform active ones. Reaching them requires a relational, not transactional search.
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All 13 articles are organized across three pillar topics.
About the Author
Chris Folwell
Founder, Love + Lead · We Love Clarity
PhD Candidate · M.T.S. · Gospel-Centered Executive Leadership
Chris is the founder of Love + Lead, a leadership development initiative that helps pastors and Christian leaders integrate spiritual leadership with the executive responsibilities of guiding healthy organizations. His work includes staff placement, executive team coaching, leadership roundtables, and coming alongside Senior Pastors navigating significant organizational decisions.
He holds a Master of Theological Studies in Theology and is a PhD candidate in Gospel-Centered Executive Leadership, studying how churches cultivate Gospel-shaped executive leadership within multi-staff church teams.
His approach is relational, unhurried, and grounded in the conviction that the most consequential leadership decisions deserve clarity before they require a candidate.
Visit weloveclarity.com
Free Assessment
Is Your Church Ready to Begin an Executive Search?
Ten questions. Five minutes. A clear picture of where your church stands before you begin one of the most significant hiring decisions you will ever make. Developed from the Love + Lead search framework.
- Understand where your church is strong and where more preparation would help
- Reflect on your leadership culture before writing the job description
- Consider what a high-capacity hire will need from your team to thrive
- Receive a personalized readiness score and reflection
- Your results go directly to Chris for a personal follow-up
Free. Five minutes. Chris reviews every result personally.