The Oaks Church

Student Director/Pastor

Full-Time · $60,000 - $75,000

THE OPPORTUNITY The Oaks Church is seeking a relational, visionary, and spiritually mature leader to serve as our Student Director / Pastor. This person’s primary responsibility is to lead and grow The Oaks Student Ministry for students in grades 6–12, serving as the hands-on ministry leader, primary Bible communicator, and chief developer of leaders within Student Ministry. Although this role provides leadership and alignment across kindergarten through twelfth grade, this is not a Kids Ministry Director position. The Oaks has a Kids Director who owns and leads the day-to-day operations, programming, volunteers, and execution of Oaks Kids. The Student Director / Pastor provides leadership, coaching, strategic support, alignment, and accountability to the Kids Director while helping ensure that Kids Ministry and Student Ministry share a unified mission and discipleship philosophy. We are looking for more than someone who can lead weekly programs. We are seeking a proven leader of leaders—someone who has demonstrated the ability to identify, recruit, develop, empower, and multiply leaders. This person must be capable of building ministry teams, creating sustainable systems, and scaling ministry effectively as The Oaks continues to grow. ABOUT THE OAKS CHURCH The Oaks Church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ and to see the gospel take root in people and flourish. We are a growing church committed to biblical faithfulness, meaningful community, discipleship, and mission. We desire to be a church where people are known, taught, challenged, equipped, and sent to live faithfully for Christ in their homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and beyond. The Oaks is building for the future. We believe healthy ministry is not built around personalities or programs, but around the faithful teaching of Scripture, strong relationships, intentional discipleship, and leaders who equip others to do the work of ministry. Our desire is to develop ministries that are spiritually deep, relationally strong, operationally healthy, and capable of growing as God continues to bring people into our community. ABOUT LIBERTY HILL & THE AUSTIN AREA The Oaks Church is located in Liberty Hill, Texas, a rapidly growing community on the northwest edge of the greater Austin area. Liberty Hill has experienced extraordinary growth in recent years as families continue moving into the communities surrounding Austin. That growth is reshaping the area through new neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and young families. For us, that growth represents far more than development. It represents a growing mission field. Every year, new families are moving into our community. New schools are opening, neighborhoods are expanding, and thousands of children and students are growing up in one of the most dynamic regions in Texas. The Oaks believes God has placed our church here for this moment. For a Student Pastor, Liberty Hill offers a unique opportunity to help build a ministry in a growing community—not simply inherit and maintain an existing program. We are looking for a leader who sees the opportunity to reach students, build relationships with families, develop leaders, and help establish a ministry capable of serving this community for years to come. Liberty Hill offers the relationships and character of a close-knit Texas community while providing convenient access to the culture, opportunities, and amenities of the greater Austin area. PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES Lead and Grow The Oaks Student Ministry Provide primary leadership for students in grades 6–12, including weekly ministry environments, discipleship, teaching, events, retreats, outreach, and relational ministry. Develop a Student Ministry culture where students are known personally, taught Scripture faithfully, challenged toward spiritual maturity, and equipped to follow Jesus in every area of life. Serve as the primary Bible communicator within Student Ministry and develop other capable teachers and leaders. Build meaningful relationships with students by being present in their lives beyond scheduled church programming. Build and Multiply Ministry Leaders Identify, recruit, train, develop, empower, and shepherd adult leaders who can take meaningful ownership within Student Ministry. Build a leadership culture in which ministry is multiplied through equipped leaders rather than dependent upon one person. Create clear leadership roles, expectations, training systems, and pathways for increased responsibility. Develop leaders who are capable of discipling students, leading groups, teaching, organizing ministry environments, and helping carry the mission of Student Ministry forward. Partner with Parents Develop strong relationships with parents and equip them as the primary disciplers of their children. Communicate clearly and consistently with families while helping parents navigate the spiritual and developmental challenges facing middle school and high school students. Build trust with parents by creating ministry environments that are biblically faithful, relationally healthy, safe, organized, and intentional. Provide Strategic Next Generation Leadership Help create a unified discipleship philosophy and ministry strategy from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Work alongside church leadership to strengthen transitions between Kids Ministry, Student Ministry, and the broader life of the church. Bring strategic clarity to how The Oaks disciples children and students through each developmental stage. Ensure that both ministries remain aligned around the mission, theology, values, and ministry philosophy of The Oaks Church. Support and Lead the Oaks Kids Director Provide leadership, coaching, strategic direction, accountability, and support to the Oaks Kids Director while allowing the Kids Director to retain ownership of the day-to-day leadership and execution of Oaks Kids. Help the Kids Director develop leaders, strengthen ministry systems, solve problems, establish priorities, and prepare the ministry for continued growth. Build Effective and Safe Ministry Systems Develop scalable ministry structures, volunteer pipelines, communication systems, policies, and processes that support continued growth. Ensure that all Student Ministry environments operate according to The Oaks Church’s child-safety policies and ministry standards. Evaluate ministry effectiveness and make adjustments as needed to support continued health and growth. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS The successful candidate must: - Demonstrate a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, spiritual maturity, and a clear calling to disciple the next generation. - Have a clear passion for and calling to ministry with middle school and high school students. - Fully support the mission, values, doctrinal beliefs, and ministry philosophy of The Oaks Church. - Have a proven track record of leading leaders, not merely coordinating volunteers or managing programs. - Demonstrate the ability to identify, recruit, develop, empower, and multiply leaders. - Have successfully built ministry teams in which trained leaders assume meaningful ownership and responsibility. - Demonstrate the ability to create scalable ministry structures, systems, and leadership pipelines. - Have experience leading a ministry through meaningful growth, change, or increased organizational complexity. - Demonstrate the ability to cast vision, create alignment, address problems, and move teams toward measurable goals. - Have meaningful ministry leadership experience that includes direct responsibility for students and adult leaders. - Be able to teach Scripture clearly, faithfully, and engagingly to students at different developmental stages. - Be an effective communicator with students, parents, volunteers, staff members, and church leaders. - Demonstrate strong relational instincts and a genuine desire to be present in students’ lives. - Possess the spiritual and relational maturity to command a room without dominating it. - Demonstrate sound judgment, personal integrity, emotional maturity, and appropriate relational boundaries. - Be willing and able to work the evenings, weekends, ministry gatherings, camps, retreats, and special events required by the position. - Satisfactorily complete all required background checks and child-safety training. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS Preference may be given to candidates who have: - A bachelor’s degree in Student Ministry, Biblical Studies, Christian Ministry, or a related field. - Four or more years of experience leading a Student, Family, or Next Generation ministry. - Previous experience serving as a Student Pastor, Student Ministry Director, Next Gen Director, or in a comparable leadership role. - Experience supervising ministry staff or providing leadership and coaching to another ministry director. - Experience scaling a growing Student Ministry. - Experience creating and implementing a discipleship strategy across multiple developmental stages. - Formal biblical or theological training. LEADERSHIP AND COLLABORATION The Student Director / Pastor reports to the Associate Pastor and works closely with the Lead Pastor, elders, Oaks Kids Director, Administrative Assistant, and other ministry leaders. The Kids Director will receive leadership, coaching, and strategic direction from the Student Director / Pastor while continuing to own and lead the day-to-day work of Oaks Kids. The Student Director / Pastor will be expected to embrace collaboration, communicate openly, receive direction and feedback with humility, and contribute positively to the overall culture and mission of The Oaks Church. This person should be able to lead decisively while remaining teachable, relational, and willing to work within the leadership structure of the church. THE LEADER WE ARE SEEKING The right person will be a Student Ministry leader at heart and a leader of leaders in practice. This person will be equally comfortable teaching Scripture, developing adult leaders, coaching a ministry director, communicating with parents, attending a student’s game, solving organizational problems, and building a long-term ministry strategy. This leader should bring warmth and energy without sacrificing maturity, authority, or theological depth. We are looking for someone: - Students will enjoy being around. - Parents will trust. - Leaders will want to follow. - Church leadership can confidently empower. This person should see ministry not merely as running programs, but as building people. They should have the leadership capacity to walk into a growing ministry, understand what is needed, develop a strategy, build a team, and create an environment in which both students and leaders can flourish. Above all, we are seeking someone who loves Jesus, loves the local church, loves students and families, and desires to give their life to helping the next generation follow Christ. HOW TO APPLY Please send: - A résumé - A link to a recent teaching sample - Applications will be reviewed as they are received. Email: hello@exploretheoaks.org