William Vanderbloemen
William Vanderbloemen (born December 20, 1969) is an American entrepreneur, pastor, speaker, and author who founded Vanderbloemen Search Group, an executive search firm that helps churches, ministries, and faith-based organizations hire leaders and analyze compensation. He grew up in Taylorsville, North Carolina, earned a BA in philosophy/religion from Wake Forest University in 1992, and an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1995.
After college, he was associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Hendersonville, North Carolina. At 27, he became senior pastor of Memorial Presbyterian Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where the congregation grew and a $5.5 million building program was completed. In 2001 he served as a guest chaplain for the U.S. House of Representatives. At 31 he was elected senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Houston, becoming the youngest senior pastor there at the time. In 2006 he led the funeral of Lloyd Bentsen.
Vanderbloemen has focused on pastoral succession planning, helping churches continue beyond a pastor’s term, and he consults on succession planning and compensation for faith-based groups. He also works with relief organizations such as World Vision International and Living Water International. He has commented on Mars Hill Church and Mark Driscoll for various outlets and published pieces in Forbes, Fortune, Outreach Magazine, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and Inc.
Before starting his firm, he worked as a human resources manager at Anadarko Petroleum and, in 2008, was senior vice president and ministry practice leader at FaithSearch Partners. Vanderbloemen Search Group opened in 2009 in Houston. The firm provides leadership placement and compensation analysis for churches and Christian organizations worldwide and acquired Help Staff Me in 2011. It joined the Association of Executive Search Consultants in 2012. He and his wife Adrienne and their seven children live in Houston.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:10 (CET).