There is a day every leader has to face. But no leader necessarily wants to.
I have walked through this with dozens of leaders over the years and it’s never a fun process.
It’s the day when it’s time to no longer be the leader.
That hurts.
Just seeing it in print may sting a little if you know the time has come for you—but you haven’t yet said it aloud.
It could be for a variety of reasons. Still hurts.
Could be retirement. A season has ended. Or you’re no longer the best fit to be the leader.
Either way—wrestling to this point is a difficult, sometimes grueling, decision.
It’s one I’ve faced in my own career. In our last church plant, I knew God was releasing us to something new. That didn’t make it easy. I couldn’t even see what would happen next. I just knew my season there was ending.
Some handle this well. Some resist it and don’t. Some kick and scream and it has to be forced upon them. Never pretty.
A pastor friend of mine, Shawn Lovejoy, seems to be doing a brilliant job of leaving the church he planted. I loved the message where he shared it with his church.
My friend and co-worker Dan Russell, our senior adults pastor, got to a point at his church where he sensed they needed someone different to carry them to the next level as a church. It was in his season of wrestling that God brought him to my attention. He was still young, with (hopefully) years ahead of him in his career, but he sensed it was time to step aside. And God rewards obedience. As hard as it must have been for him to come to his realization, his addition to our team has been one of the best things to happen in my tenure. I can’t imagine the last few years without him here.
Recently I learned of two other megachurches where the senior pastor stepped aside—sensing it was time for a change. Both seem to be handling the transition well. I’m going to follow them to see how it goes.
