Second Baptist Church is a downtown, vibrant, progressive Baptist church with a focus on worship, mission, discipleship, and community.  Second Baptist is seeking a new pastor who is a faithful follower of Jesus Christ and a gifted communicator of the Gospel.  The pastor must embrace the diversity of our congregation and respect the rich heritage of the church as a whole.  He or she should promote unity within our church and community while respecting different points of view and beliefs.  The pastor should be passionate about all people - individuals and family - and want to build meaningful personal relationships with all ages of the church, from children to senior adults.  The pastor must be able to lead and shepherd a church divers in theology and open in mind.  He or she must proclaim the Gospel message of redemption, faith, and grace in a way that inspires the congregation, aroused its interest, deepens its faith, and leads to its spiritual growth.  The pastor should be able to "equip" believers with the tools to help them live out their faith journey.  The pastor should be a secure and confident, but not domineering leader.  He or she should be capable of identifying, training, and developing leaders in the church.  The ideal candidate should work cooperatively and effectively with the other ministers, staff, and laity.  He or she should lead us in meaningful worship.  A vast knowledge of the Bible is needed to be able to effectively teach the congregation through Biblically based sermons.  The ideal candidate will be a person who joyfully accepts the full scope of pastoral responsibilities.  He or she will be an inspirational servant-leader who is able to meet the needs of our church while moving us forward.  The ideal candidate will recognize, promote, and encourage mission outreach locally, nationally, and around the world in partnership with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  Ideally, the pastor would have a minimum of six to ten years ministerial experience and a seminary degree or post-graduate degree.  A doctoral degree would be ideal, but the church would be open to a pastor who is in the process of completing that degree.  Above all, the pastor must be a person who has followed God's calling to ministry and desires to be in community with the people of Second Baptist and their fellow neighbors in Little Rock, Arkansas.