Equipping Emerging Leaders for Established Leadership

Moving from awareness to action, Spencer Click, lead pastor of Calvary Lighthouse  in New Jersey, is intentionally seeking out and raising up new ministry leaders from within his own church.

An Ohio native, Click graduated from North Central University in 1999 and pastored in Minnesota, California, and Virginia as a children’s pastor and executive pastor before being asked to serve at Calvary Lighthouse.

Soon after relocating from Virginia to New Jersey in 2017, Click finished his doctorate in servant leadership and organic team development at Bethel University in St. Paul. His doctoral degree followed his graduation from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary with a master’s degree. For his doctoral thesis, Click wrote on coaching team members from being followers into emerging leaders, and emerging leaders into established leaders.

“As pastors, we develop followers, but we aren’t so good at developing leaders,” he says of his reason for choosing the thesis topic. “Churches must focus on raising up ministers or there will be a shortage,” he continues.

Realizing that Calvary Lighthouse was also in need of qualified staff members to fill various ministry roles, he decided to put his thesis into action. In September of 2023, Click started a class on Wednesday nights, using Global University’s curriculum, to help congregants with a call to ministry pursue ministry credentials.

By using the facilitator’s guide provided by Global University, a foundation for the class was established. From there, Click built a clear pathway for all those in his class to meet the qualifications for credentials through the Assemblies of God.

Click, who serves the church alongside his wife, Heather, said that he identified potential attendees in two ways. First of all, he began to seek out those who had demonstrated an “uncommon willingness to serve” and invited them to explore their ministry gifts even further through the class. Secondly, he says he “cast a wide net” and asked those who called Calvary Lighthouse their home if they, too, had any interest in joining.

Within a few weeks, 17 people had enrolled in the class. In the coming months, 12 will complete the course work, six of whom will pursue credentials through the New Jersey Ministry Network, two of whom will stay on as pastoral staff, and two of whom feel called into full time missions.

One of the graduates is Jesus Ortega, a board member of the church who has transitioned to serving as the middle school pastor and will be seeking licensure and eventually ordination through the Assemblies of God. He says that the class has really prepared him for becoming a pastor and has helped him, not only in his ministry, but in his personal life as well.

“The class has really brought the Bible to life and helped me connect dots that I hadn’t before,” he says. “It has also helped me answer questions that the middle-schoolers have about the Bible. I can answer because I know the history.”

He goes on to say that Click has been a great teacher, going above and beyond with notes, clear explanations, and an added mentoring component.

Click says that leadership development and mentoring are important to him as a pastor and that he takes his mentorship model directly from Scripture.

“Some leaders may think that if people want to be mentored, they will pursue them. But if you look at what the Bible says, the examples of strong mentoring relationships in the Bible, you will see that established leaders must pursue the emerging leaders and initiate that invitation into ministry,” he states.

He cites the examples of Jesus and the pursuit of each of the twelve disciples, Paul’s pursuit of Timothy, and Moses’ pursuit of Joshua. He clarifies that the relationship has to be reciprocal to work, it cannot be forced, but it often starts by “identifying individuals who have potential and are faithful in serving and then helping them explore their ministry gifts.”

While it is God who calls someone into ministry, he says, it is the job of the established leader to encourage, support, and draw out of emerging leaders the full realization of their calling.

Clicks says that the Global University class has been a wonderful way to get men and women started in ministry but could also easily be used for those who simply want to enrich their study of Scripture or enhance their existing ministry skills.