Valley Real Life Church
- Denomination: Non-Denominational
- Location: Spokane Valley, WA
- Size: 3100
- Website: www.vrl.church/
- Hiring for: Student Pastor
The need
After nearly three amazing years, Valley Real Life Church’s Student Pastor made her departure due to her husband’s job relocation. While she stayed on the team part-time helping with scheduling and back-end planning, Valley Real Life needed someone to permanently fill the shoes of Student Pastor. With a flourishing Next-Generation ministry, the new Student Pastor would need to be able to tackle the needs of a church fostering the beliefs of hundreds of young students, shepherding them into the future with care and compassion.
About Valley Real Life Church
Valley Real Life (VRL) is a church with a heart for relationships, transformation, and authentic community. Founded in 2003 by Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho, VRL began its journey as a humble gathering of 125 families and has now grown into a vibrant, multigenerational church of over 3,000 believers. At its core, VRL is a church that believes in walking alongside individuals on their own unique spiritual journeys, creating a secure and supportive environment where faith can grow, and life’s highs and lows are shared in a genuine community.
VRL values every individual and the transformative power of Jesus in their lives. Each story of life change is seen as a testament to God’s work and a catalyst for others to take bold steps in their own faith. That is why their search for a Student Pastor was about more than just filling a role: it’s a strategic and spiritual moment, an opportunity. The right leader would help VRL continue fostering meaningful relationships and guiding students toward Jesus, creating the believers of tomorrow.
The ideal candidate
Valley Real Life was searching for a development-driven and relational Student Pastor to continue to build and support their Youth Ministry with passion and energy. This role involved developing and investing in the growth of students through middle school and high school and discipling and intentionally connecting with students throughout their faith journey. Valley Real Life needed a candidate with:
- A heart for students and passion for developing volunteers and leaders
- At least two years of experience in a large student ministry like VRL’s
- Skills in ministry planning and execution, coordinating staff and volunteers alike
- The ability to be coachable as well as coach others
- Charisma, stage presence, and skills in teaching and preaching
- A strong sense of humility and emotional intelligence
Strategy and timing
After finding out about Vanderbloemen, Valley Real Life Church reached out, and in no time Executive Search Consultant Sarah Meggers was on the case. With over 10 years of ministry experience under her belt before joining the consultant team at Vanderbloemen, Sarah knew the vitality of a role like a Student Pastor. She knew that finding just the right candidate for the job could create positive change not just in the Youth Ministry department, but in the entire church as a whole. Joining her on the search was Senior Executive Search Recruiter Will Hancock, an experienced recruiter notorious for finding incredible candidates on even the most difficult of searches due to his keen eye for detail. Throughout the early months of 2025, Sarah and Will worked together with Valley Real Life Church to find the best slate of candidates for the position, interviewing and vetting candidates until they had assembled the best of the best. This detailed yet necessary process ultimately led Valley Real Life to find not only the candidate they had been hoping for, but something of a bonus, too.
About Hannah Seitz
When the leadership team at Valley Real Life Church was presented with a slate of talented and qualified candidates, they were not only impressed, but torn between two great applicants. The two candidates that stood out, Connor Shoup and Hannah Seitz, would both be a great fit for the position, but in the end, Valley Real Life offered the role to Hannah Seitz, their unicorn candidate, who seemed to perfectly fit what they were looking for with:
- Nearly 8 years of youth ministry experience
- Lots of experience leading a large Student Ministry at a large church
- Skills and experience preaching as well as teaching and leading smaller groups
- Great passion for discipling students and equipping leaders
- A degree from Ozark College, where VRL staff have fond memories and connections
- A magnetic personality and great team communication and coaching skills
Valley Real Life Church had no doubt in their mind that Hannah was the right person for the job. But they couldn’t help but feel Connor had a place in their ministry, too.
They followed their hearts and offered him another position on their Student Ministry Staff. And with that turn of events, Sarah and Will ended the search above and beyond expectation!
Two hearts for youth ministry are better than one
Valley Real Life Church found more than what they were looking for in a search for their new Student Pastor. Hiring not one, but two candidates from the slate presented by Vanderbloemen. Hannah Seitz was quickly recognized as the perfect fit to lead the Youth Ministry of Valley Real Life into this new chapter. Hannah, an experienced student pastor, has a heart for discipling students and volunteers alike and a connection to staff through Ozark College, perfectly fit the VRL culture. Connor Shoup, another seasoned youth pastor drawn to the mission behind VRL, who is another great addition to the Student Ministry Staff at Valley Real Life Church. With Hannah and Connor now in place, the church looks ahead with excitement for what this team can do for the next generation of believers and how they will shepherd their students throughout their faith journeys into adulthood.
