Colorado Springs-based Agora helps U.S. churches and nonprofits find leaders | Faith & Values

When churches and nonprofit ministries seek new leaders, some simply post a job notice online and pray about it.

But a number of large Christian groups across the country seek help finding the just-right senior pastor or CEO and turn to Agora Search Group, a Colorado Springs-based business that specializes in recruiting high-level pastors, leaders and executives for challenging positions.

Agora has worked with some of the Springs’ biggest churches (First Presbyterian Church, Woodmen Valley Chapel) and parachurch organizations (Compassion International and the Navigators) as well as churches in Denver (Mission Hills Church) and Boulder (Grace Commons).

The company also helped has groups nationwide, including Chicago’s historic Moody Church, Phoenix-based Food for the Hungry and a host of California megachurches, such as North Coast Church in Vista, Menlo Church in Menlo Park and Carmel Presbyterian Church.

Agora was founded nearly a quarter century ago by Rob Lauer, who knows firsthand the differences that good — or bad — leadership choices can make.

The right leader can help a church or ministry increase its impact while energizing employees, bringing in new supporters and growing its revenue. But the wrong choice can bring chaos and membership and revenue declines.

“The consequences of a bad hire go well beyond the financial,” says Lauer, who founded Agora in 2020.

“The collateral damage can include spiritual and emotion effects on multiple parties, including the board, other leaders, constituents,” and the families of everyone involved, he said.

Wrong person for the job

Lauer’s first experience of a bad hire was his own. A California church hired him to be its youth pastor even though everyone soon realized he was the wrong person for the job. He had won over church leaders during an interview in which they relied more on chemistry than analysis.

“I’ve been the bad fit,” he says. “They let their guard down and quit asking any questions of substance.”

He was glad he could make it up to the church years later when it hired Agora to find a new senior pastor.

Agora, one of a number of faith-based search firms, got its start working with California’s high-tech companies, including the one Lauer worked for following his youth ministry debacle.

Higher calling

Agora’s business was booming when Lauer sensed a higher calling to serve ministries.

“God made it clear I was supposed to step away from high tech recruiting and turn my attention 100% to churches and faith-based organizations,” he says.

He soon saw that work with religious groups would require more work but pay lower fees. He has no regrets.

“It’s very fulfilling and rewarding to see the impact when we can find a godly leader” who successfully serves a church (as senior pastor, executive pastor, or worship pastor) or a nonprofit (as president, CEO, executive director, or vice president of development).

The “Current Searches” page of Agora’s website shows pastoral positions in Wyoming and California. Individuals can also submit their resumes to Agora’s database.

Usually, the ideal candidate isn’t someone desperately seeking employment. Rather, it’s usually a successful leader who’s already fulfilled and engaged but may be open to a bigger challenge.

Process of discernment

When Agora’s recruiters get a call to help find a leader, they follow a four-step search process that takes some 275 hours:

• Define the need by paying a visit and doing a deep dive into the organization’s culture and DNA, and interviewing people throughout the organization.

• Discover final candidates, spending at least 40 hours on each, including interviews with seven to nine references, a half-day personal visit, and a dinner at the candidate’s house.

• Discern the right fit by presenting and introducing final candidates.

• Decide and make an offer, with Agora following up to “ensure successful onboarding.”

Lauer says one challenge is that not every great leader is a great fit for every great church or great organization.

He’s also seen leaders who’ve worked to conceal a “shadow side” that can be a dark, mirror image of their most prized skills. Discovering these hidden dangers requires research into candidates’ social media personna(s), requesting additional references from candidates’ references, and conducting criminal and sexual background checks.

Discerning the right fit is an art and a spiritual discipline, not an exact science, and Lauer says it’s beyond the skill set of artificial intelligence, which is playing a growing role in recruitment and hiring decisions.

“AI can’t probe character or grasp biblical truth,” Lauer said.