I can’t say that I’ve ever watched a pastor quit his job, so this is a first. With that being said, if I ever quit my job, I hope I come across half as gracious and hopeful as these two do. Praying for you, Kenny and MaryJo!
I can’t say that I’ve ever watched a pastor quit his job, so this is a first. With that being said, if I ever quit my job, I hope I come across half as gracious and hopeful as these two do. Praying for you, Kenny and MaryJo!
Great sermon. They did a great job at informing the church and their leaders. I pray that their next adventure will be a cool as that one was.
On your comment about never seeing a pastor quit his job, I’ve been blessed in seeing three pastors do something similar to what Kenny and MaryJo just did. One pastor actually did it twice – with two different churches!
That person would be Tri Robinson, a long standing Vineyard leader. The first church he “quit” was a church plant he started while pastoring the Vineyard Boise (long story). He started the church and then passed the torch on after a year (eventually the torch was passed to myself after going through the hands of two other gentlemen – the other two folks who I saw quit). The second church Tri quit from was the Vineyard Boise, a church he planted about 30 years ago. For that one, he had a seven year transition where he slowly passed the leadership of the church to a younger leader. He did such a good job at the transition, he is hosting a conference next month about pastoral transition – seeing how the average age of a Vineyard pastor is getting up there, hence the need to shift leadership roles on to the next generation.
Hi Joshua – I am grateful for your encouragement here. This was truly one of the great tests for us. I watched a lot of resignations on line, and read a bunch of resignation letters. To be honest, the one that inspired me the most, which was the basis for this approach was from a Vineyard pastor (Dave Workman – Vineyard, Cincinnati). I watched his on my back patio on my iPad one night a few weeks ago and told my wife, “That’s the way you do it!” Dear brother, do pray for us. We truly have no clue what is next for us. The only words I hear from the Lord are “Let Go.” Not sure what I’ll be picking up next, though I know that after 19 (almost 20) years, I need to take an extended sabbatical from vocational ministry in a local congregational setting.
Here’s the link to Dave’s transition announcement:
https://vineyardcincinnati.com/future
Thanks for the link. I had heard that Dave was going to step down, but I haven’t seen the video.
One of the things in your talk that really touched my heart was how the Lord had prepared the hearts of your elders beforehand. I am praying and asking the Lord to do the same thing with the elders and congregation of the church I pastor as God has told my wife and I that it is time to leave. We have been with them from the very beginning, seeing it grow from a new church plant to a health local body.. God hasn’t told us what our next assignment is…all we know is that we are start a two year transition out of the senior pastoral position. After that, who knows…most likely we will take a year off and then perhaps go start a new church somewhere, or move overseas, or support an existing church, or something totally different… who know. We, like you guys, are just following Jesus on the great adventure of life. =D
The cool thing is that when step out of our comfort zone, Jesus steps in and radically impacts the course of history. Should be fun to watch. =P