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Organization: Epic Church (Nondenomination | 900+)

Title: Care & Counseling Pastor

Location: Palm Coast, FL

Website: theepicchurch.com

THE CHURCH

The Epic Church story began years before the 2009 official worship gathering launch. Picture it, the early ‘90s, three pastors; one a pastor from Palatka, Florida, with a vision to start a new church in Flagler County after noticing the growing number of people, yet so few churches. The two other pastors trained, equipped and awaiting how God would use their gifts. Fast forward to 1994, those three pastors, Dannie Williams (pastor from Peniel Baptist Church in Palatka, Florida), Billy Wight and John Shepherd came in contact with each other and began to pray about starting a new church in Flagler County. In September of 1995, Palm Coast Community Church (PC3) launched its first worship service. For over a year, people from Peniel Baptist Church came to serve and help get PC3 launched well.

Jump 13 years later into the story, God gives the leadership of PC3 a familiar burden on their hearts to launch a new church to reach out to the many people in the county that are seeking a connection with God but don’t know where to begin. God invited Trent Schake and his family to lead the charge in starting that new church (Trent had been on the PC3 team for nine years as the pastor of small groups)

On September 20, 2009, Epic Church launched its first official worship gathering with 300 people in attendance. Since Epic Church was launched in 2009 the goal has been to provide a safe place for those searching for answers to ask questions and engage God. Everyday, God continues to invite people into this epic story He’s telling, and we’re still trying our best not to DO church, but BE the church in our community.

Vision, Mission, & Beliefs

As stated by Epic Church

The Vision of Epic Church

Romans 8:31 says, “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? (Since) God is for us, who can ever be against us?” The problem is many people today don’t feel like God is for them. They feel like (if God exists) He is probably against them, mad at them, or disappointed in them. Our community, as is our culture, is looking for a faith that is real. The percentage of the U.S. population that described themselves as “religiously unaffiliated” rose from 17% in 2009 to 26% in 2019, which is at an all-time high. A growing number of people are not connected to any religious faith and are looking for a real, authentic, personal faith.

Since the beginning of Epic, we have been defined by who we are—we are a church for people who don’t do church. Whether people believe in what we do or not—no matter their religious background, political opinion, or lifestyle choices—we want Epic to be a safe place for people to come and explore the teachings of Jesus and grow a real relationship with Him. Over the last decade, we have led hundreds of people to make a decision to follow Jesus and are seeing many of them connect with God through our church family.

Since Epic started in 2009, we have also been for our community. We asked ourselves if Epic’s doors were ever to close, “Would our community miss us?” The answer to that question is beginning to be “yes” as we’ve served

families, children, students, the elderly, addicts, victims of domestic violence, first responders, educators, and others in our county. We have served our community through hundreds of projects with strong local partnerships.

Now a new opportunity is before us in this next decade in Epic’s story. We are at a point where the needs of those who attend and those who reach out to us from the community outweigh the capacity of our current resources, staff, and rented facilities. We believe God is leading us to take even greater steps to impact our community for Christ. We plan to do this through the following three key initiatives: For Our Community, For Our Families, and For the Future.

The Heart of Epic Church

Mission (Why do we exist?): To lead people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Our Message (What do we regularly say?): God is for you and so are we.

Our Strategy (What makes us different?): We are a church for people who don’t do church.

Reach seekers
Build believers
Target men
Reproduce ourselves

Our Values (How do we behave?):

People matter – Am I valuing people?
Becoming like Jesus matters – Am I living the 5G life? (God, Grow, Gather, Give, Go)
Authentic community matters – Am I doing life with a small group of Christ followers?
Engaging environments matter – Am I creating engaging, appealing, and helpful environments for others?
Serving others matters – How can I help?

Our Mission Measures:

The 5G Life (How do we measure our mission?):

God – Talk and listen to God daily.
Grow – Apply what you are learning from the Bible.
Gather – Gather with a small group to learn how to live in biblical community.
Give – Give of your time, talents, treasures to advance the kingdom of God.
Go – Tell others about Jesus with your life and words.

Our Leadership Structure (Who is on the team?):

Lead Pastor and Elders – Provide spiritual guidance, discernment, and guardians of the mission and resources of Epic
Directional Team – Help the Lead Pastor with future goals and planning
Staff – Lead the day-to-day ministries of Epic
Directors & Coordinators – Help to lead the ministries of Epic

Our Strategic Anchors (How will we succeed? This is our secret sauce and what people say that they like about Epic):

Treat people like they matter.
- Welcoming and warm
- Accepting and including
- Authentic about our lives
- Are people feeling connected with?

Create engaging environments.
- Engaging presentations that bring appropriate levels of energy
- Visually appealing environments that are consistent with our brand
- Helpful content that is memorable
- Would people want to come back?

Move people through our spiritual growth process.
- Start the spiritual growth process (Starting Point, 5G Groups, & Community Groups)
- Serve at Epic locally, nationally, and internationally
- Be active in a Community Group
- Are people moving through our spiritual growth process?

Our Future Goals (Where are we heading?):

Lead 1,000 people to Christ by end of 2024
Encourage people to fully engage by attending, serving, being a part of groups, giving, and inviting
Continue to invest in our children and students so that they graduate with a faith of their own
Greater reach in being for Flagler, including building a Care Network and Counseling Center, and through National and International missions
Growth Dreams:
- Flagler campus of 2,000 in attendance
- Expansion: Online campus and plant two more physical campuses—maybe in Volusia and St. John's Counties

Beliefs

The Short Version

God is real. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and in charge of all things. He exists in Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created everything and everyone, and every person matters deeply to Him. Everyone has sinned, and that sin separates all of us from God, so everyone needs Jesus, who died for our sins, rose from the dead, and is coming back again. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Heaven is real. Hell is real. Angels and demons – including Satan – are real. The Holy Spirit lives in every Christ-follower, and empowers us to live for God and serve others for Him. The Bible is God’s Word to us, and it is true, powerful, and relevant to us today. Baptism is when a Christ-follower is immersed under water, and is not an act of salvation, but a way for us to tell the world that we follow Jesus.

Ministry Programming

The following is an overview of the ministries at Epic Church.

Sunday Service Times

In Person: Sundays 8:45am, 10:15am & 11:45 am

Online: Sundays: 8:45am & 10:15am

Group Ministry

STARTING POINT

Whether you’re new to faith, just checking things out, or have been at Epic for

a while, Starting Point is a great first step to have a conversation about God,

Jesus, and the Bible. Starting Point is an 8-week small group that provides an

opportunity to explore faith in a safe, non-threatening environment. In fact, no

questions are off-limits. The topics we discuss are conversations we believe

everyone should have about faith. As a result of this group, you’ll experience a

taste of what it’s like to be in community with others on a similar journey.

5G GROUPS

Is it time for action? 5G Short-term groups offer you the opportunity to explore

a topic with a group of people that share a common goal so you can grow

together in life-changing ways. Short-term groups are like Community Groups,

but they meet weekly for a short period of time to explore one topic. Some of

these groups are in a large-group format at a certain location, while others

meet in homes.

COMMUNITY GROUPS

Making a big church feel like a small, close-knit community begins here. If you

want to grow in your relationship with Jesus, you need to have intentional

relationships with people who have the same goal, and a Community Group is

the ideal place for that. In Community Groups, people study God’s Word and

discuss the issues and challenges of life. They pray together, care for one

another, and are missed if they don’t show up. Our groups consist of 8 – 12

adults who meet regularly for a year or more to pursue spiritual growth and

healthy relationships. We have groups for men, women, and couples in all

seasons of life.

Care

Whether you are beginning a brand new season or working through a tough one, we want to walk through it with you.

Counseling

Nobody’s life is perfect. Life is full of ups, downs, and many transitions

in-between. Most of the time when we experience challenging situations we can

lean on friends, family members, or our Community Groups. Sometimes,

however, problems become more complex and we need the guidance of

professionals. Whether you are feeling overwhelmed, are going through a life

transition, or are struggling in a relationship, we want to help connect you with

a counselor.

Premarital & Wedding Services

We congratulate you for being interested in pursuing premarital counseling.

That puts you ahead of most couples who do not get premarital counseling and

then, too often, end up having marital problems that could have been avoided

ahead of time. And with marriage statistics not leaning in anyone’s favor, we

feel strongly at Epic that God wants us to help couples build their relationship

on a solid foundation. That’s why we put so much emphasis on our premarital

counseling process. In fact, our pastors are so passionate about helping couples

stay together forever that they will not perform a wedding for someone who

has not gone through premarital counseling and who is not a regular attender

at Epic.

Prayer

One of the best things about being a part of a church family is that you don't

have to do life alone. If you have a prayer request or an answer to a prayer

that you'd like to share with us, simply share it with us, and we'll be praying for

you this week.

Children’s Ministries

Our goal at Epic is to introduce children to the real Jesus at each phase of life. From the moment you drop off your child to the moment you pick them up, they experience safe, age-specific environments designed with them in mind. Every weekend, we discuss one Biblical truth through Bible stories, illustrations, games, worship, and small groups.

Tidepool | NURSERY – KINDERGARTEN

Sunday at 9:00am and 10:30am

We love babies and toddlers! They are motivated by safety and we seek to

embrace their physical needs to give them a great first impression of their

Heavenly Father. While parents enjoy the weekend service, they can rest assured that their little ones are receiving personal care in a safe and nurturing environment!Preschoolers and early school children love to learn, and they are motivated by discovery. We seek to guide their curiosity to allow them to see their uniqueness. Our classrooms provide interactive learning experiences in a colorful and engaging atmosphere! From illustrated lessons to small group activities, preschoolers learn about Jesus and the Bible in bite-sized pieces each week.

Riptide | 1ST – 5TH GRADE

Sunday at 9:00am and 10:30am

In our elementary environments, kids are motivated by fun. We seek to engage

their interest to promote a personal and interested God. Our goal is to help kids

know God, grow spiritually, discover who God created them to be, and go

serve. We do this through Bible stories, illustrations, games, worship, and

providing time for small groups. We believe that church should be fun, and we

have a blast every week!

Student Ministries

Our student ministries exist to encourage students to begin exploring their personal relationship with Jesus, and to help them connect relationally with others. We offer two unique environments developed with your student in mind.

Pipeline | 6th-8th GRADE

Sundays at 10:30 am

Pipeline is an environment where middle school students (6th – 8th grade) can begin to explore their relationship with Jesus and connect relationally with others. We facilitate this through music, games, teaching, and small-group discussions.

Surge | 9th-12th GRADE

Sundays at 6pm

Surge is an environment for high school students (9th – 12th grade) where they are encouraged to make wise choices, positively influence their friends, and experience personal ministry through serving others. Students will have an amazing time developing their relationship with God and gathering with others.

SERVE AT EPIC

When you serve with a team at Epic, you are making a difference in people’s lives. Whether you help set up, shake someone’s hand at the door, play an instrument, or make a child feel loved, you are impacting someone for Jesus.

We know you’re busy, and a million things are competing for your time, but we also know that you’ll meet some new friends and grow in your relationship with Jesus when you start serving. There’s a serving opportunity that suits your personality and availability, so click below to check out a few of our teams and sign up to make a difference! At Epic, we want to be known for our generosity – both with our time and money – toward those in our local community. We provide opportunities to meet the needs of our community through partnerships with local organizations and nonprofits. We believe that God is for our community, so we are For Flagler too! Every year we dedicate one Sunday to BE the church in our community.

OUR COMMUNITY

We want to be known for our generosity, both with our time and money, toward those in our local community. We provide opportunities to meet the needs of our community through partnerships with local organizations and non-profits. Our partners include Alpha Pregnancy Center, Grace Community Food Pantry, and Habitat for Humanity.

We believe that God is for our community, so we are For Flagler too! Every year we dedicate one Sunday to BE the church in our community.

THE WORLD

We partner with Tree Ministries, located in Guatemala. We partner with them through praying, going, and giving.

COMMUNITY

Palm Coast is one of Florida's newest cities, it was incorporated in 1999, and is located in Flagler County, Florida. Palm Coast is a Florida paradise – situated on 70 miles of saltwater and freshwater canals and the Intracoastal Waterway and just minutes from breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean beaches. The latest population estimates show that nearly 94,000 people call Palm Coast home.

Quality of life is paramount in Palm Coast. The vibrant lifestyle and the natural environment go hand-in-hand here. The City offers a dozen beautiful parks, 130+ miles of connecting trails and paths for walking/bicycling, abundant fishing and boating, and world-class tennis and golf.

Lined with historic oaks, towering pines and indigenous vegetation, Palm Coast's parks and trails showcase the splendid elegance of the native Florida landscape. Bird-watching is popular at St. Joe Walkway and Linear Park, which are designated as Great Florida Birding & Wildlife Trails, and visitors can spot dolphins and seabirds as they stroll along the Intracoastal at Waterfront Park.

In a prime coastal location off Interstate 95, and a little over an hour’s drive

from Palm Coast to Orlando, less than half an hour to Daytona Beach and an

hour to Jacksonville, Palm Coast affords all the amenities of a small-town,

master-planned community lifestyle with access to big cities and some of the

world’s most iconic family attractions, including a Squirrel Ninja Warrior course!

ECONOMY

The unemployment rate in Palm Coast is 5.3% (U.S. avg. is 6.0%). Recent job growth is Positive. Palm Coast jobs have increased by 1.9%.

COST OF LIVING | Compared to the rest of the country, Palm Coast's cost of living is 3.6% lower than the U.S. average.

Median Income: $ 47,634

WEATHER & CLIMATE | April, November and March are the most pleasant months in Palm Coast, while July and August are the least comfortable months. Elevation: 31 ft above sea level.

VOTING | In the last Presidential election, Flagler county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 59.9% to 39.2%.

POPULATION | Palm Coast's population is 92,350 people. Since 2020, it has had a population growth of 16.1%.

Median Age: 47 years old

Family in Palm Coast

56.5% are married

11.2% are divorced

25.4% are married with children

10.2% have children, but are single

Race in Palm Coast

71.4% are white

11.6% are black

11.3% are Hispanic

2.9% are asian

2.1% Two or More Races

0.4% are native american

0.4% claim Other

0.0% Hawaiian, Pacific Islander

REAL ESTATE | The median home cost in Palm Coast is Real Estate: $271,100. Home appreciation the last 10 years has been 8.3%.

SCHOOLS | Palm Coast public schools spend $9,269 per student. The average school expenditure in the U.S. is $12,383. There are about 16.6 students per teacher in Palm Coast.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

The following describes many of the characteristics of the ideal candidate for the CARE & COUNSELING Lead:

At Epic Church, the CARE & COUNSELING Lead will be a visionary, strategic, relational, organizational builder that possesses an entrepreneurial spirit to build a ministry for maximum Kingdom and Community Impact. The right candidate will know how to network with community leaders, corporate sponsors and donors, individual church attendees, and strategic partners and will be responsible for building a Care Network and Counseling Ministry. We want the Care Network to be the central hub for the community so when a person needs help, their first call will be to Epic Church. Then the person would meet with someone in Epic’s Care Network who will provide an initial care plan, direct them to the resources in the area, and follow-up with them.

The other part of this ministry is the Counseling Ministry (Center). This ministry will be built with two aspects: pastoral counseling and professional counseling. We will identify what counseling we can do within Epic and then build a network with partners for more specific specialized counseling.

Creates the Care Network within the community through strategic partnerships and team building.
Creates the Counseling Ministry (Center) for the community through internal staff, volunteers, and outside partnerships.
Oversees and continues to build a prayer ministry team.

Reporting Relationships

Supervises: CARE & COUNSELING Coordinator and Volunteer Ministry Leaders and Team

Relates to: Lead Pastor, Church Staff, Ministry Teams, and the congregation

Key Relationships and Constituencies

The CARE & COUNSELING Lead should focus on and develop several key relationships in their role. These relationships are the most important ones in doing the work of this role, staying healthy in all ways, including spiritually, emotionally and mentally, and developing the ministry further as time progresses.

The CARE & COUNSELING Lead should, first and foremost, cultivate their personal spiritual development and energy in a relationship with God. They should also develop and nurture healthy relationships with:

Their family
Epic Ministries: Elder Ministry Team, Church Staff and Congregation
Flagler County surrounding community

CHARACTERISTICS

Leader: Models servant leadership, empowers and positions others for growth and wins, and actively builds a culture of Leadership Development. Initiates and effects meaningful change. Participates in generating and accelerating organizational momentum leading to excellent performance. Identifies, develops and empowers leaders and fosters a culture of leadership development. Models servant leadership and collaboration in decision making.

Shepherd: Provides personalized spiritual guidance towards becoming more like Jesus. Identifies where people are spiritually and equips and leads them to take spiritual next steps. Leads people toward increased levels of engagement in our church. Functions as a member of the church’s pastoral staff in providing care, counseling, performing baptisms, weddings, funerals, etc.

Networker: Demonstrates a passion to strategically build relationships with community partners in a variety of ways. Informs and inspires for kingdom growth and impact in all written and spoken media (informally, formally, personally, and publicly). Recognizes and leverages those strategic partnerships and potential donors to make a Kingdom impact within Flagler County.

Strategist: Clearly defines the “end goal” and establishes short and long term strategies that will actualize that end goal. Demonstrates big picture thinking and can clearly articulate the vision and mission of an organization/ministry. Clearly and accurately identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in his/her organization/ministry. Works with the end result in mind, drives for excellence and continually evaluates progress.

EDUCATION

B.A. degree in counseling, nonprofit leadership, biblical studies, ministry, church leadership, or equivalent education is preferred but not required.

We seek someone with at least 5-10 years’ experience building an organization from the ground up and has an entrepreneurial spirit that can lead a staff team in building and growing a groups and serving-based ministry for a church. Significant experience in developing and successfully implementing a COMMUNITY CARE & COUNSELING model is preferred.

EXPERIENCE

The successful candidate will have a strong background in ministry development, team building, discipleship and spiritual formation strategies with proven success in implementing these strategies. Posses a proven track record of leadership, organizational development and effective communication.

They must have strong people skills and a driving passion to reach people far from God and help them grow deeper in their faith. They must embrace the ability to work within a community and promote innovation through collaboration. In addition, the individual will show an ability to connect across generations

Experience in a medium to large church setting and supervisory experience in a multi-staff setting is preferred. The candidate we are looking for also has a gift of preaching/teaching, with a desire to serve on the teaching team with a rotation of speaking about 3-5 times a year.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Champion

Vision, direction, development, and support for the Groups division by leading it and developing a team to run it.
Developing and implementing goals, a ministry calendar, a direct report meeting schedule, the Groups budget, and continuing to develop as a leader for this ministry.

Collaborate

Using Epic’s vision and model for groups to create community and to disciple those within Epic’s groups to live the 5G life for both those on-campus and eventually online as well.
Beyond ministry responsibilities for Epic events, tasks, projects or when needed to cross-team as assigned.

Create

Collaborate with the Epic Team to implement systems and processes that facilitate and track spiritual growth, including a leadership development strategy that inspires, equips and reproduces leaders.
Work with the Groups Team to host bridge events for onboarding men and women from relational events to groups.
Design marketing and promotional materials that ensures that everyone is aware of the groups model and can easily become a part of it throughout the year.

Care

Fulfill essential pastoral needs at Epic Church including, but not limited to, Sunday pastoral duties, Pastor of the Week, holiday seasons, hospital visits, marriages, funerals, baptisms, etc.
Shepherd and foster the growth of group leaders, enlists new leaders, develops apprentices within all group environments through networking, an onboarding application process, training huddles, one-on-one meetings, an apprentice system, and honoring and recognizing volunteers.

Communicate

Works to align with the style of communication according to Epic’s teaching and ministry philosophy.
Participates on teaching team to help in message series preparation throughout the year.
Prays, studies, and prepares to gives 3-5 messages a year. (If preaching/teaching is part of their skill set.)

This summary of duties represents the major tasks and duties. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities. Therefore, this pastor may perform other related tasks under the direction of the Executive Pastor.

GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS

The effective Care & Counseling Lead will achieve the following goals during the first 24 months of work:

The CARE & COUNSELING ministry advances the core mission of Epic Church: To lead people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.
There is an expansion of the CARE & COUNSELING'S ministry and the number of volunteer teams and team leads. CARE & COUNSELING leaders are identified, developed, and deployed; a thriving leadership team is shepherded well and takes greater ownership of the ministry.
CARE & COUNSELING Leaders are growing spiritually, personally, and professionally; there is a healthy staff culture on the CARE & COUNSELING team and high collaboration with all ministries.

Come join our team at Epic Church! APPLY HERE