General Information
Job Title:
Senior Pastor: Crosswater Presbyterian Church
Job Description:
Requirements in a Senior Pastor
In addition to possessing at least 5 years of experience in ministry and being ordained or ordainable as a teaching elder in the PCA, the senior Pastor will fulfill the following responsibilities:
⮚ Preach at least 40 Sundays per year in addition to special Christian services such as Maundy Thursday.
⮚ Develop an excellent corporate worship service to include liturgy, blended music style, and regular observance of the Lord’s Supper.
⮚ In conjunction with existing leadership, create and execute a vision for Crosswater to grow spiritually and numerically.
⮚ Oversee administrative aspects of the church and supervise the church staff of a part-time administrator, part-time office assistant, bookkeeper, and music director and any future staff to ensure proficiency in their respective roles.
⮚ Mentor the Assistant Pastor.
⮚ Oversee a Discovery class for prospective new members as needed.
⮚ Identify key lay leaders and raise up new lay leaders to direct the various ministries of the church.
⮚ Lead Session Meetings and attend a quarterly Diaconate Meeting.
⮚ Be an active participant in the Tidewater Presbytery, including attendance at required meetings.
⮚ Participate in professional development opportunities regularly and follow Crosswater’s Sabbatical policy.
⮚ Conduct Leadership training for prospective Elders and Deacons as needed.
⮚ Be available for emergency and hospital visitation.
⮚ Be available for pastoral counseling by appointment and offer referrals as needed.
Position Qualifications:
Our Desired Qualities in a Senior Pastor
Character, Habits and Competencies:
Embodies servant leadership and promotes this in our church culture
Rich prayer life
Preaching from the perspective of biblical theology that heralds the good news of God’s Kingdom from Genesis to Revelation, inviting newcomers in and members to grow as participants in God’s creation project
Able to work well with church leaders
Quality time in personal Bible study
Preaching that calls the congregation to a personal faith in Christ, repentance, and spiritual growth in order to be equipped for ministry
Relationship builder who can be amicable with a wide variety of people
Participating in individual discipling relationships
Promoting a rich worship life in the church
Good listener and prudent speech
A heart for hospitality in the home
Leadership with vision to energize the church to grow and the administrative experience in how to achieve this
Compassionate Seeks resolution to conflicts in God-honoring ways
Shepherding the church in deep faith commitment and discipleship
Application Deadline
09/30/2025
Job Type:
Full Time
Salary Range:
TBD
General Information
Church/Organization Name
Crosswater Presbyterian Church
Contact Name & Contact Info
Industry
Church
Denomination
Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
City, State
Chesapeake, VA
Description of Organization
Crosswater Presbyterian Church
Our Vision
Our vision is to be a people so taken with Jesus Christ that we rejoice in his
love, walk in his ways, and carry his gospel to our community.
Our Values
⮚ Renewing Grace: in a world of broken lives, the gospel of grace brings about
renewal and wholeness that glorifies God.
⮚ Reliant Prayer: In this world we are powerless to bring about gospel change
by ourselves. To bring grace to people’s lives and care for our communities,
we must be a people who are dependent on the Lord in prayer.
⮚ Redemptive Community: In a world that is disconnected and constantly
fragmenting, the gospel calls us to form deep, meaningful relationships in
community.
⮚ Reformed Lifeview: We strive to be winsomely reformed, believing the Bible to
be God’s authoritative Word, our rule for faith and living. We affirm the
historical confessions of the Reformed faith as teaching the principles and
truths of the Bible and expressing the gospel of grace.
⮚ Relentless Mission: In a world of self-absorption, the gospel of grace propels
us out of ourselves to love and serve other people.
Our Mission
Our Mission is to make disciples of all ages, who in heart and hand, live like
Jesus in all areas of life. We accomplish this by:
⮚ Developing spiritually-reproducing Christians through missional discipleship.
⮚ Befriending, hosting, and praying for the unchurched.
⮚ Engaging the lost and the unchurched with the good news of Jesus through
thoughtful questions, listening ears, and seasoned words.
⮚ Encouraging new folks to love Christ and his church and pursue meaningful
membership.
Our Church Profile
Crosswater was founded in 2012 as a church plant from Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church in Suffolk, VA. As a plant, we benefited from the wisdom of two pastors: David Dickson, who is now retired and our pastor emeritus, and Dan Kerley, our former senior pastor, who recently moved to Florida to accept a call to a new ministry opportunity. Dan and his wife Lesa are beloved by our congregation for their maturity and friendliness. The Kerleys expected to finish out Dan’s season in professional ministry at Crosswater, but the Lord opened a unique opportunity for him in Florida. The Kerleys have our love and gratitude for their faithful ministry to us in Christ.
Crosswater particularized in 2013 and now meets at StoneBridge Christian School. We have an excellent relationship with StoneBridge, which offers us plenty of room to grow our community with its large worship space and many classrooms. Looking to the future, we desire to raise up and train leaders within the church to take advantage of present and increasing ministry opportunities. In line with attendance and membership growth and expanding ministries, we desire to obtain our own church building. We plan for this building to serve as an effective tool for growing the ministry of our church in addition to providing office space and storage facilities. While currently a small church, we would like to grow to make this financial investment in the church’s ministries without a large debt burden.
Our congregation enjoys a balanced demographic. We are about 1/3 seniors, 1/3 adults under 65, and 1/3 children and teens. Worship attendance averages 120. Since there are many military installations in Hampton Roads, we benefit from the fresh energy military personnel bring when they move to the area, and we look to send them off encouraged and strengthened.
Our worship order emphasizes expository preaching along with personal and corporate confessions of sin and assurance of forgiveness. We are currently confessing our faith together using questions and answers from the Westminster Catechism and are about to start using the New City Catechism. We enjoy a
musical prelude and offertory along with congregational singing. The music style is wide ranging from modern worship songs to classical hymns. The composition of our instruments varies, but we frequently enjoy piano, guitar, bass, violin, cello, drums, as well as vocalists.
You won’t be ministering alone. You’ll have support and wisdom available to you. Crosswater’s Assistant Pastor of Students and Families, Matt Horne, has been here for two years. He has four years of ministry experience. He preaches once per month, and writes the worship service’s liturgy when he does. He coordinates the youth and children’s ministries and welcomes new people by helping them get
connected to the congregation.
Crosswater has an interim part-time music director, and we are seeking a person for this permanent part-time position (see job description on our website). Additionally, we have a part-time church administrator, a part-time office assistant, a CPA bookkeeper, and a volunteer nursery coordinator.
We have six Ruling Elders and six Deacons who actively use their various gifts to serve our congregation. As a congregation, we are seeking someone who can encourage us to use our gifts for the good of the church and to be active in ministry.