Transitions - The Ripple Effect, More Departures

Prayer Journal Entries
July 3, 2012: "Help us cope with [another] departure."
July 5, 2012: "Comfort for the congregation during this time of transition."

Like the ripples in a pond after a stone is tossed in, a big change brings other changes.

When the Sr. Pastor resigned, I had already scheduled a trip to Africa and a vacation for the month of June. While it was difficult to leave the church during this time, I had to realize that this wasn't my church but Christ's church, His bride.  I remain only a steward.

So, on June 30th, our team, the first team to go in 2012, returned safely.  It was great to be back in the fellowship again on that next day, a Sunday, celebrating Christ, and thanking Him for a great trip, another church built, and for so many stories to share with our church family.  It was the day after, a Monday, when the reality of another leadership lesson would shake me (briefly) out of the fog of jet-lag.

After 11 years of faithful service, our worship pastor surprised me with his resignation. He had been interviewing some months with another church, candidated while we were in Africa, and was kind enough to wait for my return before announcing.

By way of context, given the size of our church, this role remains very impactful.  We have an orchestra, choir, worship teams, and more which make the ministry one that is complex and difficult (although a privilege) to lead.  So, now I had another senior staff departure from a church weary of change - and especially weary of pastors leaving.

As he began his own transition, I prayerfully approached this whole situation and began meeting with key leaders in the Music and Worship Arts (MAWA) Ministry.  My intent was to understand their perspective on the soundness of the ministries so that we could form a team to keep moving the ministries forward.  Ultimately, we were able to bring a team together that did a great job in a difficult time of transition.

Lessons applied as the changes continued...

• Keep praying specifically through these challenges.  Do not do this on your own. God is waaay bigger than you or your church and will help you and your team weather this storm of change. Moreover, He will give you the peace you need to lead.
• As we have already learned from our first post on the inevitability of Transitions, change will come. Using another illustration, when my bride and I lived in California, we learned that the big earthquake only made smaller ones to follow behind it - aftershocks. The big quake of a Sr. Pastor departure (or arrival) would surely bring other quakes.
• Stay positive. In those early meetings after his announcement, I was looking for leaders who saw the reality of the challenges yet were willing to see God working in this situation to His glory.  I found them and empowered them to lead.  I intentionally set aside leaders  who seemed to focus only on what would not work as opposed to what would work.  Not only do I need to remain positive, we all do.
• God remains sovereign. At the time, I cried out to God. Looking back, it was exactly the right time for this change and it desperately needed to happen.  God knew it all along and patiently waited for me to stop whining and start trusting.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate.  I know we've covered this in previous posts, and this will likely come up again. Once we established a plan, I met with the orchestra and choir.  I brought with me key council leadership so that the team could ask any question they wished of me or my council leadership.  They needed to see that we were openly focused on the same things: moving forward and investing in this important ministry while seeking the Holy Spirit's wisdom, power, and leading all along the way.

The transition process was especially difficult for the MAWA Teams as a result of this leader's departure. However, there was a core who refused to give up and give in to the sinful pleasure of negativity and criticism.  They didn't shy away from the problems or ignore them.  In love, they took these challenges head on and the result was authentic, spirit-filled worship.

As I look back now, here's what I would have done differently.

• Assign/hire an interim MAWA leader. I had confidence that this team would work together.  And, while they DID work together, there were some bumps in the road that might have been avoided by one leader making the decisions.  Because there was no central leader, I ended up filling that role.  And, because of all the rest that was on my plate, I did not give the role the time that was required. Which leads to the next one...
• Meet more often with the leadership team.  Although I tried to do this, there were some conversations I missed that did not turn out well.  My presence at these meetings would have been helpful.

By the way, we now have an Interim Worship Pastor leading this important ministry - a spiritually mature leader who loves to worship and it shows.  Thanks, LORD!