The Candidate You Almost Passed On
You open the file. You scan the top half. And within thirty seconds you’ve already made up your mind.
Every search committee has done this. A resume lands in the inbox, it doesn’t check the boxes you expected, and it gets moved to the “maybe later” pile before you’ve really looked at the person behind it.
But hiring for ministry isn’t the same as hiring for a corporate role. God often calls people whose paper trail doesn’t tell the whole story.
A Resume That Almost Got Passed Over
A mid sized church in the Midwest was searching for a youth pastor. The committee had a clear picture in mind. They wanted someone with a seminary degree, five years of youth ministry experience, and a track record of growing a program from the ground up.
One resume came in from a candidate who had none of that. He’d spent the last six years as a high school teacher and assistant coach. No formal ministry title. No seminary. Just a paragraph near the bottom mentioning he’d volunteered with his church’s youth group every week for years.
The committee almost passed. On paper, he didn’t look like a fit.
But one member of the team asked if they could at least do a phone call before ruling him out. That conversation changed everything. He talked about the students he’d mentored through addiction, family breakdown, and doubt. He talked about how coaching had taught him to build trust with teenagers who didn’t trust easily. He talked about Sunday nights spent just being present, not performing.
They brought him in. Within a year, attendance had grown, but more importantly, kids who had never opened up to an adult were coming to him first. He turned out to be exactly what that church needed. Not despite his unconventional resume, but partly because of it.
Experience Isn’t Always Where You Expect It
Scripture is full of people whose resumes wouldn’t have made the first cut. David was a shepherd before he was a king. Peter was a fisherman before he was a preacher. Paul had a background that most churches today would flag as disqualifying.
“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart'” (1 Samuel 16:7).
That verse wasn’t written about hiring committees, but it applies. Titles and years of experience matter. They’re not nothing. But they’re also not everything.
What to Do Instead of Passing Too Quickly
Before you rule someone out, ask a few questions. Has this person been faithfully serving somewhere, even if it wasn’t a paid role. Do their stories reveal character and calling, even if their title doesn’t. Would a short conversation tell you more than the page in front of you.
A resume is a snapshot. It’s not the whole picture, and it was never meant to be.
The next time a resume crosses your desk that doesn’t quite fit the mold, don’t close the file yet. Pick up the phone instead. You might be one conversation away from finding exactly who your church needs.
About the Author
Derek Harsch has spent over a decade working at the intersection of ministry and leadership development. As a contributor to MinistryJobs.com, he writes on church hiring, ministry culture, and the qualities that make leaders effective in local church contexts. His work helps ministry teams think more clearly about who they hire and why it matters for the long-term health of the church.
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