transition points
Bob Russell has set the bar high for us in a number of areas.
Humility. Class. Longevity of ministry.
Oh, and that whole growing a church from 50 to 20,000 thing.
He also modeled transitioning well, from the first leadership team discussions about succession planning in 1999 to the memorable “baton-passing” during his last service as Southeast’s senior minister in 2006.
Bob shares the story of this journey, the lessons learned, and suggestions for other leaders in his new book “Transition Plan.” The publishers mailed me a review copy recently and I’m glad to share it with you as an excellent resource.
Rick Warren has praised Southeast’s transition from Bob to current senior minister Dave Stone as the only perfect one he’s seen, but this book is helpful because Bob also shares some of the things he would have done differently. He admits the occasions he struggled and the principles he followed.
“Some ministers feel the choice of their successor should be left up to God and that any effort at a transition plan is a presumption on God’s will,” he writes. “But we don’t take that same approach to other transitions. We make out a will for our children, we train someone to take our place at work, and we mentor assistant coaches in athletics. Why would we give less attention to the Kingdom of God?”
Bob showed us how to grace-fully hand your life’s work to the next generation. Whether you’re a minister or a business leader, you can learn from his example. I have a second, autographed copy of the book which I’ll give away to one of you—just leave a comment on this post by 5 p.m. EST on Thursday. Tell me about the transition you’re involved in, the one you need to be planning, the one you mishandled, or what you’ve learned in this area. If you really have nothing on topic to share, offer a suggestion of what I should be for Halloween this year. (I’m stuck. Why does every Halloween outfit for women involve short skirts and plunging necklines? But that’s another post.)
6 Comments »
Leave a Reply
Jennifer Taylor
My Other Sites
Twittering @seejenwrite- seejenwrite: I wonder if there's an FBI file on me.
- seejenwrite: Next year on Memorial Day weekend I'll be doing something fun instead of packing up my house during a heat wave. I keep telling myself this.
- seejenwrite: @BenArment end of June. Let me know when you're ready for STORY Philadelphia :)
- seejenwrite: @ShaneWhybrew Nope, just reading lots of buzz on FB
Hhmm. Excellent timing. And by “hhmm” I mean “must be a God thing since I’m right in the middle of a frustrating transition situation right now.” Transitions require discipline and discernment. And it’s not just about the leaders. It involves the entire body. Sure, the entire body can’t be involved in every detail of transitions and decision-making, but I think leadership – based on models that have worked for decades – often fail to recognize shifts in generational needs and means of communication. The younger generations want a level of authenticity and won’t trust leadership without authenticity. The older generations were raised to trust leaders and therefore assume a level of trust among followers that, frankly, might not be there. Not because leaders are not to be trusted but because authenticity must precede it.
Some of the wisest counsel I received in transition from one ministry to another was to “leave well.” Although I now see God’s hand in the move, it was not one a really wanted to do. But I thanked those who had served with me for years and went on my way. After all if I complained about it or made a scene about how others who “did not do there job,” it would have been bad. To this day, I know I left well.
Hey guys, I ended up getting a second autographed copy, so I have one for each of you! Please send me your mailing addresses (jen@seejenwrite.com).
Here is one “secret” this leader obviously does not know. It’s not really a secret at all because it is in the Bible we all read and he allegedly studies “full time” to put the cookies on the lower shelf for the saints. God has already designed a plan for His church that involves no transition as institutionalized leaders and pew sitters would think of.
Luke 6:40
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is(B) fully trained will be like his teacher.
This scripture clearly tells us the goal of teaching is to fully train others to be like the teacher / leader. In other words full reproduction. Of course we all know the pulpit/pew orientation does not have a clue about this concept since it is drowning in perpetual dependency. After 20 years of teaching a preacher will leave his church and no one there knows what to do. Their only option is to hire another guy to do all the previous “teacher” did. No one expects anything different. It’s all normal. It’s all godly.
Another scripture spells out that leaders / teachers should seek to work for 4 generations of reproduction beyond themselves, not just one. See 2 Tim. 2:1, 2
Of course this concept is completely undoable in institutional forms. Amazing… God gives us instructions that are not possible in what we call church. There is a way of doing church where this is possible. It’s commonly referred to as organic church. Organic =living. All living things reproduce – not transition.
“Every leader should read this book” ????
You know you have a sympathetic ear with me when it comes to discussions of how we’ve institutionalized the church. But everything requires a leader–even a house church or small group or organic church. If the group doesn’t start with one, one will arise. (Watch “Lost.”
) It’s just human nature.
So my assertion of why this is an important topic, and a good read, is that part of leadership is intentionally creating a healthy transition to the next leader. That may be in the prevailing model of church, it may be in a business setting, it may be within the culture of reproduction and mentoring you talk about. But it has to happen.
I”m glad your ear is sympathetic. I would like to add more to it.
“Everything requires a leader” is based on what? Lost? Humans observations of human nature? Is there anything “God breathed” here? Anything that is “profitable for teaching, rebuke, correction….”?
The scripture I gave you did not have it’s impact. You are still allowing tradition or what you consider something like common sense to trump it. It tells us that if there is a situation where there is one leader or a top leader of many, it should be a temporary situation so that mutuality among leaders can be accomplished – “fully trained”; “like him”. These are Jesus words. Do they matter more to you than your assumptions about human nature? They should.
Here is more from Jesus.
Matt. 23:1-12 Jesus specifically denounces as evil special titles and any kind of pedestalizing one man over others for any reason because of who He has made us to be (brothers & servants) and who He is.
You know that people preferred the leadership of man over God’s leadership since the Israelites specifically demanded a King over God’s direct leadership. The bad legacy lives on today among God’s people. What is healthy about the transfer of one pedestalized leader to another? It only prolongs the perpetual dependency of God’s people and many other tragic realities. It makes idolatry look nice. Idolatry is putting confidence in things other than God and His plan. That’s what this is.
I don’t mean to sound nasty and extreme. It’s all in plain English for you to read in the Word. You don’t have to know the Greek. You have to think in a way where you aren’t trying to please men. You have to be a Berean and examine what you are told with the Word to see if it’s true. Acts 17:11.