Lead Pastor
Search

A living guide to our process and progress as we seek who God has next for our Anthem community. Updates will be posted regularly throughout the search process.

News & Updates | Timeline | Application Process | Interview Process | Search Committee 

It's with great joy and gratitude towards our heavenly father that we announce Anthem Church has a new Lead Pastor!

On May 29, 2025, the Lead Pastor Search Committee conducted its final meeting to review and discuss our final candidate. After much discussion, they unanimously voted to recommend him to the Elder Board as the next Lead Pastor of Anthem Church.

On Tuesday, June 3, 2025, the Elder Board met to consider the committee's recommendation and also unanimously voted to hire Jon Birkmire as our next Lead Pastor. An offer was extended to Jon, which he then accepted on Wednesday, June 4th.

To learn about the Search Committee's process and their reasoning behind the decision, read the recommendation letter sent to the Elder Board by clicking here.

The search committee has completed the third and final interview with our final candidate and has unanimously approved him to move on to the final step of the process.  For this final step, the candidate will record a video outlining his plans for the implementation of our vision and mission over the next few years. Additionally, the committee will be reaching out to have conversations with his provided references.

These steps will culminate in a final in-person meeting of the search committee, when they will review all of the old and new information, discuss, and take a final vote on the candidate. This will be a vote to recommend or not recommend to the Elder Board that this candidate be hired as the next lead pastor of our church.

The search committee has completed 2 of 3 interviews with the remaining final candidate. The third interview is scheduled for the first full week in May. After this third interview the Lead Pastor Search Committee will confer. If the committee unanimously votes to move forward, we will move on to the final stage of the interview process with this candidate.

This stage will involve introducing the candidate to our church and conversations with the candidate’s references.  After this, if the committee is unanimous in their belief that this candidate is our next lead pastor, they will present him to the Elder Board as their final recommendation as our next lead pastor. The Elder board will then discuss and, if in full agreement, will construct and make an offer to the candidate to be the next Lead Pastor of our church.

Got questions? Send a message to leadpastorsearch@anthemchurch.com

Over the first few weeks of March, 3 of the 5 applicants removed themselves from consideration due to other positions they were interviewing for and considering. In mid-March, the search committee met to begin the final preparations for the interview process. At this time, after speaking with two references, the committee decided not to pursue one of the other final candidates. As the end of March approaches, we are about to start interviews with the remaining candidate.

The first of three interviews will be held on March 31st. Three or four committee members will participate in each interview, which will be recorded for the rest of the committee, staff, and elder board to watch. After each interview, the search committee will vote if they want to continue on with the candidate to the next interview. (See the process outlined below.)

We continue to ask that you pray fervently that God would grant all involved wisdom from above and discernment for his will in this process.

After a thorough review, vetting, and conversations over the course of a couple of weeks, the search committee selected 5 of the 14 applicants who met the minimum requirements and invited them to a first interview. As part of the interview preparation, we requested that they complete the Working Genius assessment and a Get To Know You questionnaire we sent them.

In late December, the Lead Pastor position was posted online at churchstaffing.com and on the Irresistible Church Network job posting website. Over the course of six weeks, we received over 100 applications. Out of this group, 14 applicants met the minimum requirements as outlined in the Lead Pastor Ideal Candidate Profile. This group of 14 is what the search committee will be moving forward with. 

Got questions? Send a message to leadpastorsearch@anthemchurch.com and we'll deliver it to our Search Committee.