Resume’

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The number of people who do not believe in God amazes me.  They think government, people, celebrities, or things offer hope in life.  I believe it is because they have not seen a life truly transformed by the power and love of Jesus Christ.  My passion is to see people experience the transforming power of God’s love.  While the world has changed many times over, our Lord has not.  Jesus still loves us, no matter how disinterested or disconnected we may be.  Our neighbors…our nation…our world is dying to know the present and eternal hope of Jesus.

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DSC_3003I am an experienced Senior Pastor, Solo Pastor, and a youth minister both in church and para-church settings. I have been a Church Planting Missionary with the North American (Home) Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, a Church Planting consultant in both Nevada and North Dakota, and worked on a state denominational staff.

 

I am seeking a full-time pastorate.  I am not including a link to download my resume’ due to security reasons.   However, if you will email me by clicking on the link, or send one to arnold@arnoldchavers.com

Summary of Qualifications

  • Forty years of ministry experience, in all aspects of church ministry, including twenty-nine years as a senior pastor.
  • Strong leadership and administrative gifts and experience.
  • A Home / North American Mission Board church planter and missionary with a passion for outreach.
  • Launched one church and restarted a closed church, designing strategy, polity, and raising funds for each startup.  Have coached other church planters.
  • Visionary. Gifted in seeing a church or ministry’s potential and strategizing to achieve goals.
  • Experienced in all aspects of pastoral responsibilities. Supervised staff and recruited and developed volunteers. Managed budgets. Raised funds for and supervised renovation and remodeling projects.
  • Skilled and experienced communicator (speaker and writer). Preached the main sermon twice a week (50 weeks annually) and have preached to crowds as large as 1,000.  See samples at www.arnoldchavers.com.
  • Attentive to all pastoral care duties, including weddings, funerals, and hospital visits. Provided counseling and maintained regular office hours for availability to congregation.
  • Developed church governing constitution and by-laws.
  • Able to see the big picture and apply moral and spiritual principles to action. Made every decision consistent with the mission and vision of the church.
  • Strong sense of propriety and integrity. Apply Biblical character and reason behind every action.
  • Professional level computer skills. Worked for twenty years as an IT consultant and System Administrator to businesses.   Expertise with Windows servers and software as well as all Apple technologies.
  • Entrepreneurial. Launched an IT consulting business, developing a customer base, and later marketed and sold that business.
  • Guitarist in worship band.

Ministry Experience

Church at Rock Creek   Community Group leader.  Skills Lab Instructor, Guitarist in worship band 

Plum Bayou Baptist Church  Interim Pastor

  • Led church to set goals and work to achieve them. Attendance increased from seventeen to sixty. Ten were added to membership including three baptisms, the first in several years.
  • Initiated outreach events to attract families and children, including Easter Egg Hunt. Fifteen children and parents increased to 42 children with families. Held community picnics at the park.
  • Installed new lighted message board sign and built a covered drop off area, along with paved drive that increased paved parking spaces, while providing additional entrance to the facilities. Raised funds to cover the cost.
  • Started feasibility studies and property surveys to build a parsonage.
  • Provided preaching and teaching, and all pastoral care, created a membership database, and installed computerized recording for worship services.
  • Recruited and trained volunteers.

Second Baptist Church

  • Volunteer – Staffed Coffee House Outreach ministry. Wrote and implemented a membership orientation program for a 100+ year old congregation.

Saddle Creek Church        Senior Pastor

  • Managed and led a staff of five – one full-time worship pastor, three part-time age group ministers, and one office assistant.
  • Reined in spending to balance budget.
  • Filed legal documents with the state to constitute as an Arkansas non-profit.
  • Created policy / procedures, accounts payable, accounts receivable, along with constitution and by-laws, developed marketing plan and negotiated $2 million property transfer.
  • Preached all worship services and led additional Bible studies and other public speaking events.  Introduced computer network for office staff.

Desert Springs Church   

  • Church Planter Pastor / Missionary
  • Started church from my living room. Marketed and developed the congregation from ground zero.
  • Negotiated space in a local mall to rent and take the church plant more public.
  • Relocated the church to a church facility that was closing and negotiated transfer of property and debt to the ownership of Desert Springs.  Improved / repaired property, including installation of multi-media equipment for worship usage.
  • Successfully merged the remaining congregation of the closing church into our congregation and designed a plan to manage any resulting conflict.
  • We became known for our 4th of July block parties and community outreach.
  • Sponsored, supervised, and mentored five church plants (Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Anglo, Student), all of which are now independent congregations.
  • Approved as a church planter missionary with the North American (Home) Mission Board, S.B.C.

Fellowship Baptist Church         Church Planter Pastor / Missionary

  • Reopened the facilities of this church abandoned by the membership and built the congregation.
  • Remodeled and expanded the facilities twice and raised funds to cover expenses.
  • Installed multi-media equipment and upgraded sound equipment.
  • Sponsored three mission churches, coaching and mentoring the three first time pastors.

Crosby Baptist Church  Senior Pastor

  • Baptized five new converts, their first in over a decade.
  • Church recognized by the Mississippi Baptist State Convention as a top-five per-capita congregation for missions contributions each year.
  • Built the youth ministry, from which three of the youths are in ministry today.
  • Implemented building programs.

New Hope Baptist Church – Senior Pastor

Garfield Baptist Church – Senior Pastor

Montrose Baptist Church – Senior Pastor

Education and Training

  • Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA. Doctoral Studies
  • Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY. Master of Divinity
  • Mississippi College, Clinton, MS. Bachelor of Arts
  • Licensed (1976) and Ordained (1979) by Parkway Baptist Church, Clinton, MS

Conferences

  • Transitional Pastor Training – Lifeway / Mississippi Baptist Convention
  • Interim Ministry for Today’s Church – Arkansas Baptist State Convention
  • Purpose Driven Church Seminar – Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA
  • Creative Church Conference – Willow Creek Church, Chicago, IL