Overview

We began meeting in 1993 as a ministry to young adults and launched as The Next Level Church in September 1997. Today our church is a blend of students, single adults, married couples, and young families. We believe God is leading us to be a transformational, communal, missional and holistic faith community in and for the Denver Metro area. This speaks to both the type of people and the type of church that we are and are becoming. To envision this life process in words, we say that we are “together being changed by God to change the world.”

Three distinct elements of TNL make us a unique expression of the Kingdom. First, our primary corporate worship gathering happens on Tuesday nights, drawing an average of 500 people each week and over 1000 unique people monthly. Teaching is biblically centered, creatively communicated, and personally embodied, while worship through music is lyrically intimate and culturally relevant. Second, our Home Group communities meet on Sunday nights and are geographically based. Their primary affinity is Christ in common, meaning groups are mixed gender and mixed season of life. Third, our church is led in plurality by four Core Pastors (Teaching, Worship, Ministry, Community) functioning in a team leadership model alongside of our Board of Elders.

Our weekly Tuesday gathering meets at Greenwood Community Church near the Denver Tech Center. We would like to continue to be as creative as possible in putting our time and financial resources toward Kingdom ventures other than building ownership, and therefore we are blessed to have friends in Greenwood who view us more as ministry partners than as tenants. Our office and warehouse space is located in Englewood in the south metro area.

Our current Teaching Pastor, Dave Terpstra, has been on staff at TNLC for 10 years and has served in the teaching role for the past 7 years. In the summer of 2009, Dave and his family will be moving to Mozambique to serve as career missionaries in partnership with our church. Their leaving is a healthy transition for all involved, and it embodies our community’s values of mission and justice.

There are three unique roles within this position. First, this person will serve as one of the four Core Pastors of the church. As opposed to more traditional models of leadership combining associate pastors under a senior/lead pastor, TNLC operates in a team-based, collaborative leadership system in which our four Core Pastors equally share authority and guidance. Practically, this means that together we all discern church vision and direction, shepherd our community, program our Tuesday night services, and serve on the Board of Elders. Beyond these shared roles, each Core Pastor leads and implements within their respective areas of oversight (Teaching, Worship, Ministry, Community).

Second, as the primary teacher in our community, the Teaching Core Pastor sets the teaching direction for Tuesday content and preaches about two-thirds of Tuesdays. He also develops and leads additional teachers for Tuesdays and for class settings. We seek to be biblically grounded, culturally informed, and personally engaged in our teaching as we communicate Christ to a room that represents a faith spectrum from nonbelievers to those who have been Christians for 30+ years.

Finally, this person will oversee our Business Operations, primarily through the management of our Accountant and Office Administrator.

We are looking for someone who lives, leads, interacts, and teaches out of their own personal transformation. Our staff works closely together in shared leadership, so this pastor will need to fit into a work culture that puts a premium on enjoying each other, challenging each other, and deferring to each other. We want a pastor who can engage our community through healthy interpersonal communication, gracious and truthful community care, diplomatic conflict resolution skills, and personal modeling of a growing relationship with Christ.

Professionally, a viable candidate will have significant experience working in positions where his teaching and leadership skills have been refined over time. Our hope is that candidates will have a minimum of 5 years of ministry experience, a background in biblical-theological education (seminary preferred), a commitment to team-based leadership, and alignment with our vision, values, and doctrine.

We are committed to finding the right fit based on character, competency, and chemistry, and if that happens ahead of or behind our hoped for schedule, we are open to that reality. We will do our best to communicate with all applicants quickly and professionally, as we understand that the job application process can be taxing.

If you are interested in pursuing this opportunity, please follow the steps listed below. TNLC will remain utterly committed to maintaining your confidentiality throughout the application process. Thank you in advance for your time and discernment regarding this position.

1. Please take the time to review our relevant documents and links listed above.
2. Complete the Teaching Core Pastor Position Application and email the form data to elders@tnl.org.
3. You will receive an email from Julie Wagner requesting additional File Submissions for this application.The email will come from this domain: @sf-notifications. Be sure to check your junk mail folder if you think you haven't received a reply in a timely fashion (within a week). If you need to mail your files, please send them to: The Next Level Church, Re: Teaching Core Pastor Search, 3999 South Lipan Street, Englewood, CO 80110. (Data disc, Audio CD and/or DVD only please - no VHS)
   
4. Use the link in the email to go to our ShareFile uploader.
5. Please click "Choose Files..." and attach the following files:
   
   
   1. Résumé
   2. Recent family photo (.jpg, .tif, .png, and .gif are all acceptable)
   3. 2 sermon audio or video recordings
      
      
6. Be sure to type your name in the "Title" box and add any "Details" you would like to include.
7. Then click "Upload Files"
8. When we have received your full application package, we will send you a confirmation email. Your Application and files will be reviewed by our team and every applicant will be initially contacted within 4 weeks of application date.
9. If you are selected to move on to Phase 2, you will be contacted with instructions on how we will proceed.

If you have additional questions regarding this position or the application process, please contact us at elders@tnl.org.