Job Openings
AT SOUTH HILLS WE
- Invest in relationships with unchurched people & invite them to experience South Hills Church
- Participate in generosity by returning our tithes & offerings
- Worship passionately
- Invest in ourselves and our community by participating in Groups
- Create a“come and see” and “come as you are” environment
- Encourage everyone to take their next step
QUALIFICATIONS
- Jesus centered life (1 Tim 3:1-13)
- Humble/Teachable/Coachable (Philippians 2:1-4)
- Committed to the mission, vision, values, and model of South Hills Church.
- Experience leading teams, speaking regularly, and passionate about reaching the unchurched.
Job openings
ROLE: Connection Director
- Department: Costa Mesa Campus & Central Team
- Position Type: Full Time (licensed & salaried)
- Date to Fill: 4/1/26
- Reports To: XP
ABOUT SOUTH HILLS
- Our History: video
- Our Vision: To be the Perfect Place for Imperfect People.
- Our Mission: To lead unchurched people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
- Our Beliefs & Values: see webpage
- Our Model: We are an evangelical community-driven church with multiple campuses.
- Our Strategy: Develop People through the Growth Track
POSITION OVERVIEW
The Connection Director is a campus-based pastoral leader responsible for helping people move from attending to belonging, and from belonging to growing and serving at the Costa Mesa campus. This role owns the after-Sunday journey—guiding new guests and attenders through the Growth Track, beginning at the weekend experience and moving through Discover, Rooted, Groups, and Serve Teams, so every person is clearly invited into their next step.
The Connection Director directly oversees Growth Group Leaders and Serve Team Leaders, strengthening the church’s two primary discipleship engines: spiritual formation (Growth Groups) and volunteer mobilization (Serve Teams). This is a highly visible, people-facing role with strong Sunday presence and ongoing leadership with staff and volunteer teams. While core systems already exist, this role focuses on implementing, reinforcing, and multiplying those pathways at Costa Mesa first (80% campus focus), while contributing to scalable connection practices across other campuses (20% central support).
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE (Key Wins & KPIs)
Success in this role is measured by movement and multiplication—people taking clear next steps and leaders being developed to help others do the same. When the Connection Director is winning, new guests are personally engaged after the weekend, the Growth Track is active and effective, and more people are becoming rooted in community and purpose.
- A growing percentage of weekend guests taking a next step through the Growth Track
- Facilitate Baptisms as evidence of life change and spiritual commitment
- Increased participation in Rooted and Groups
- Expanded Serve Team capacity and volunteer engagement
- A healthy and growing leadership pipeline of Group Leaders and Serve Team Leaders
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
- Own and lead the Growth Track (Discover, Rooted, Groups, Serve Teams), moving people from weekend attendance to meaningful engagement.
- Develop and oversee Group Leaders and Serve Team Leaders, building healthy volunteer teams that drive spiritual formation and service.
- Maximize Rooted as the primary assimilation pathway into South Hills Church.
- Build serving capacity by recruiting, equipping, and retaining volunteers aligned with the mission and values of South Hills.
- Maintain a highly visible Sunday presence—engaging guests, supporting the Connect Area, and celebrating baptisms.
- Collect and elevate stories of life change, reinforcing vision and celebrating God’s work across the campus.
REQUIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCES
- Organized leader with strong execution instincts
- Volunteer development (Rooted, Growth Groups, Serve Teams)
- Relational connector who moves people toward next steps
- Pastoral, shepherd-leader orientation
- Clear and confident verbal communicator (teaching over preaching)
- Proven system implementation and reinforcement
- Collaborative team player who leads through influence
- Advocator of values and doctrine with South Hills Church
BIG WINS WITHIN 12 MONTHS
- Established strong trusted relationships with staff and core team members (6 months).
- Consistently driving weekenders through the Growth Track, with measurable movement into Discover, Rooted, Groups, and Serve Teams (6 months).
- Recruited, trained, and supported a growing base of Group Leaders and Serve Team Leaders, increasing overall participation and positions within the structure (6 months).
- Strengthened Groups and Rooted as primary environments for spiritual growth and community (6 months)
- Demonstrated measurable increases in Group participation, Serve Team engagement, and baptisms (12 months)
- Built a healthy leadership pipeline, with leaders developing and multiplying other leaders (12 months)
- Established clear, repeatable connection systems at Costa Mesa that can be leveraged across other campuses (12 months)
- Regularly capturing and sharing stories of life change that reinforce vision, celebrate growth, and fuel engagement (12 months)
MISSION: Our mission is to lead unchurched people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ
VISION: To be the Perfect Place for Imperfect People
MODEL: South Hills Church is a multi-campus church with live teaching from the campus pastor at each location.
We believe in reaching new and different people, by trying new and different things.
DESCRIPTION: Imagine being part of a church that is so committed to reaching families that they intentionally make sure that each person from birth through young adulthood is fully served. Where, regardless of their family background, structure or faith, all family members are welcomed, loved and supported as they learn the good news of God’s love for them. We are looking for a highly relational leader that has a passion and to care-for and support kids from birth thru 5th grade, helping them understand God’s love and resourcing their parents along the way. This leader must be a self-starter, growth oriented and strong team player.
If this sounds like you… keep reading!
This leader must be able to engage and foster meaningful connections with kids and parents. This leader must be able to recruit volunteers, develop leaders, and equip their team to care for the children at South Hills.
This leader must have a heart to reach out and impact our community, interested in creating or facilitating activities and experiences that balance growth for Christians with comfortable inclusion of unchurched folks. South Hills is, first and foremost, a “church for the unchurched,” which puts our organization in the unique position of finding ways to radically welcome and accommodate first time guests while also building a church community in which those who have been following Jesus for long periods of time can still actively grow. A leader whose skills, expertise, and personal calling equips them to care for children (birth -5th grade) personally, as well as releasing and supporting volunteers to do the work of ministry.
REPORTS TO: Randy Sherwood, Campus Pastor
REPORTS TO YOU: Volunteers
TIME COMMITMENT
HOURS PER WEEK: 20 hrs, Part-time
- Sunday mornings, certain midweek events/gatherings, and scheduled staff meetings
- Hybrid work model – we don’t have a structured “office culture” – it’s a mixture of working from home, from cafes, and from the office – as long as the work is getting done.RESPONSIBILITIES
- SOUTH HILLS KIDS (90%)
- Plan, develop, and implement all aspects of South Hills Kids ministry
- Recruit, train, lead, and retain a volunteer base for each area of the ministry
- Childcare: Ensure childcare is in place for classes, trainings and events as needed
- Communicate with leaders and parents on a regular basis (via social media, emails, texts, etc.)
- Child Dedication: Promote, plan and execute child dedications alongside of Campus Pastor
- Baptisms: Work with Campus Pastor to develop a plan for preparing baptisms for kids
- Events: Plan and execute events for South Hills Kids throughout the year
- Curriculum: Ensure all aspects of curriculum are ready each Sunday (nursery, preschool, elem.)
- SOUTH HILLS STAFF (10%)
- Meeting with Campus Pastor to align and execute ministry priorities, goals and strategies
- Staff Meetings, Activities & Strategic Planning
- All Church Events / Next Steps
MINIMUM EXPERIENCE
- Has 2+yrs experience working with kids
- Must know how to develop and execute strategies to reach stated goals
- Have experience recruiting, leading and developing volunteers
QUALIFICATIONS
- Jesus centered life (1 Tim 3:1-13)
- Humble/Teachable/Coachable (Philippians 2:1-4)
- Committed to the mission, vision, values, and model of South Hills Church
IDEAL CANDIDATE WILL BE ABLE TO…
- Prioritize their individual spiritual, mental, physical, and relational health
- Live in the Orange County area
- Take the time to learn & understand the people they work with, serve with & are reaching
- Show how they have connected relationally and helped others grow spiritually
- Be self-reliant with the ability and innovation to blaze new trails
- Generate new ideas, give direction, and allow others to work out the details.
- Take on multiple challenging assignments and succeed
- Be assertive, self-motivated for successful ministry, able to humbly follow as well as lead
- Recruit and develop strong volunteer teams and leaders
- Be socially poised and confident, able to speak to large and small groups
- Be a consistent, non-anxious presence that represents Christ well in and outside of your ministry context
If you believe you have what it takes to be successful in this role, we want to hear from you ASAP.
