Valley Baptist Church

WORSHIP PASTOR

Overview

Valley Baptist Church is searching for a new Worship Pastor to help build upon the exciting momentum our congregation is experiencing this season. This candidate would lead a well-staffed team of creatives and music professionals to foster exciting and meaningful worship experiences for our community.

About Valley Baptist

Valley Baptist is a vibrant and growing church located in Bakersfield, CA. On average, we see about 4,500 people walk through our doors each Sunday. Our church is uniquely positioned to serve Kern County but also has a long history of reaching the entire globe with the gospel. We do that actively through raising up missionaries, planting churches, revitalizing churches, worldwide broadcasting, and more. Valley Baptist is built to send!

Our next Worship Pastor will lead the way in developing an exciting and dynamic corporate worship culture. Our church is unique in that we’re truly multigenerational and have a wide range of backgrounds, culturally and socioeconomically. We’ve seen great success and growth in providing worship experiences that will speak to a wide range of people.

A great match for this position would be:

  1. Devoted Follower of Jesus: Recognizes that their public leadership is only as great as their private devotion to the Lord.

  2. Magnetic Leader: With the heart of a pastor. Someone who values seeing people come to know Jesus and grow in their faith. Also, someone who sees immense value in people, aiming to help them grow and thrive in their role at Valley Baptist.

  3. Relational Connector: Skilled at building relationships across teams, ministries, and the community to foster collaboration, trust, and alignment in all they do.

  4. Organized Implementer: Balances the vision of strategy with the practicality of managing deadlines, logistics, and tactical execution in a fast-paced environment.

  • Key Responsibilities
    1. Lead and oversee the global music team. Shepherd the music staff and volunteers and lead with a pastor’s heart.
    2. Develop and foster a biblical worship culture that deeply connects people to our Lord.
    3. Develop future worship leaders to be sent out with future pastors and church planters.
    4. Lead the way in recruitment efforts across the board for Music volunteers.
    5. Collaborate with senior pastors to develop a strategy for worship planning and song selection.
  • Key Qualifications
    1. Bachelor’s degree and/or 5+ years leading worship in a large church.
    2. Master’s degree in Music and/or Worship is a major plus.
    3. Strong relational skills to work effectively with staff, volunteers, and the congregation.
    4. Alignment with Valley Baptist’s mission, vision, and statement of faith.
    5. Demonstrated ability to lead a large congregation in dynamic, meaningful, and unforgettable worship experiences each week.
    6. Exceptional vocal ability and piano or guitar proficiency.
    7. Fluency in intermediate music theory (melody/harmony, key signatures, note values, chord structures, etc).
  • Staff Culture
    1. The Valley Baptist staff culture is marked by collaboration, flexibility, and a shared commitment to making a meaningful impact for Christ. A highly relational and supportive group, every individual is encouraged to bring their unique expertise and wisdom to the table.
    2. While each staff member has specific skills, there is a collective willingness to embrace a generalist mindset—rolling up their sleeves and helping wherever needed. This “we’re all in this together” approach creates a strong sense of unity and ensures that no task is too small when it contributes to the mission.
    3. The team genuinely enjoys each other. We definitely aren’t perfect and have to manage conflict, but we tend to do so with a humble posture that leads to resolution and unity. At Valley Baptist, the focus is on the joy of serving the Lord together, the relationships built along the way, and the life-changing impact we strive to make in our church and community.
  • Opportunities & Challenges Ahead
    Opportunities:
    1. This role comes with significant opportunity to shape the future of our church’s Music Ministry.
    2. Valley Baptist saw a senior leadership change about two years ago and is seeing explosive growth year over year. This growth has allowed for exciting expansion of vision.
    3. We just completed a successful capital campaign that will allow for us to build a new building to accommodate this growth. More on that project can be found at buildtosendadvance.com.
    4. Bakersfield is a growing population with great potential for the gospel. Our church is uniquely positioned to serve the growing number of people in our city.

    Challenges:
    1. If we want to reach the world, we have to develop leaders. Church planting and revitalizing is a core mission of ours. Developing worship leaders that can be sent out takes a strong commitment and clear plan.
    2. We are truly multigenerational with a wide mix of musical preference. We strongly believe in adapting preference to reach the next generation but balance that with planning worship experiences that minister to the older generations. In short, we want to foster worship experiences that have a chance to minister to a high schooler and a senior adult. We’ve been successful in doing that over the years and want to continue with that vision to reach all generations and peoples.

Meet the Team

Throughout any particular month, you can expect to experience a variety of musical delivery from a simple five-piece band to a full stage with choir and orchestra. Each week, a large team of dedicated staff and volunteers prepare and execute meaningful worship experiences for our community.

This candidate will step into leading a strong team of leaders. Here is a little bit about our current Music leadership.

Charlin Neal

Vocal Director

Charlin Neal is a gifted vocal producer, worship leader, and soprano whose distinctive sound and leadership have made a lasting impact in both the Gospel and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) scenes. For over 15 years, she has toured globally with the Grammy-winning group Israel Houghton and New Breed, serving as vocal director, and is also a core member of MultiTracks’ The Recording Collective.

Charlin’s vocal production credits include Israel Houghton and New Breed, Ricardo Sanchez, BJ Putnam, and many more. She has shared the stage with legends like Aretha Franklin, Chris Tomlin, Kirk Franklin, Michael W. Smith, Hillsong, and more.

Here at Valley Baptist, Charlin serves as Vocal Director and is passionate about glorifying God through her gifts while equipping and encouraging others. She oversees our church’s choir and vocal teams. She was born and raised in Bakersfield and enjoys spending time with her husband, Kevin, and their three children—Katelin, Kaydin, and Kennedy.

Jonathan Weinmann

Music Director

Jonathan Weinmann is a highly-regarded session drummer and Music Director with extensive experience across the music industry. Over the years, he has collaborated with a wide range of artists, bringing precision, creativity, and versatility to both live and studio settings. Jonathan is a proud partner with DW Drums, where he has contributed to the development of cutting-edge electronic drum technology, helping to shape the future of modern drumming.

In addition to his work as a drummer, Jonathan is a respected Music Director, widely recognized both in the church community and the broader music scene. Here at Valley Baptist, Jonathan oversees our bands and orchestra.

Outside of his professional life and ministry, Jonathan is married with four amazing kids. In their free time, they love getting away to their family ranch to shoot guns and take in God’s creation.

The Broader Team

In addition to the well-staffed Music team and volunteers, this candidate will also get to collaborate deeply with a wider team of staff from Communications, IT, and AV Production. The broader Creative Team has a great chemistry of collaboration and support, where everyone contributes their gifts to help more people come to know Jesus and grow in their faith.

About Bakersfield, CA

We’re located in California’s Central Valley, about two hours north of Los Angeles/Orange County and about four hours south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Bakersfield is a family-centric community and one of the best places in California to raise a family.

Economically, Bakersfield’s top industries are agriculture and oil production. However, this area is also becoming a strategic location for logistics, with a developed Amazon distribution center and future plans for large-scale logistics.

Most people from Bakersfield would likely tell you the best thing about the city is its family-centric environment, great schools, and its close proximity to the Central Coast and Sierra Nevada Mountains.