Life.Church interview questions

I interviewed for a role at Life.Church and, as a fellow Christian, I went into the process hopeful and excited. Unfortunately, it became one of the most emotionally difficult interview experiences I've had. The interviews were intense and felt less like evaluating my professional qualifications and more like proving my faith. During my final interview at the Edmond headquarters, I was asked several deeply personal questions about my life and faith journey. I answered honestly because I believed authenticity was important. Looking back, I left feeling exposed rather than understood. Throughout the process, I often felt there were certain answers or expressions of faith the interviewers were hoping to hear, and I wasn't always sure whether I was being evaluated for my skills or whether I fit a particular spiritual culture. When I wasn't selected, I asked for feedback, hoping to learn and improve. Instead, I was told that the decision came down to not having a "sense of peace from the holy spirit" about moving forward. While I respect that organizations have the right to hire according to their values, this wasn't feedback I could learn from or apply in future interviews. As a Christian myself, I found that response especially difficult to process. It left me questioning whether I wasn't the right candidate or whether I didn't fit an unspoken expectation of what faith should look like. Months later, I still remember how emotionally draining the process was. If Life.Church is looking for people who already closely align with its specific church culture or community, I think it would help candidates if that expectation were communicated more explicitly at the beginning of the hiring process. It would save both applicants and interviewers time and could prevent others from leaving the experience feeling discouraged.

The interview process for Life.Church is very rigorous and at times can be invasive. Not only do they ask questions about your experience in your role you are interviewing for, but they also ask about things you struggle with. This isn’t the “what are your strengths and weaknesses?” They can be more along the lines of trying to get you to express the sins you struggle with. You meet many people, all who look and play the part of good-looking, hip pastor, but often times I felt like these people weren’t really listening to my answers, it felt like they were trying to pick up on certain buzzwords I said to be able to use in later rounds of the interview. If the staff doesn’t like the way you answer in one round, they will cut the interview short and not ask for clarity or follow up questions and do in fact send people home at any point of the day or weekend.