Men of a certain age have a tendency to live in the past, rest on their laurels, and talk about the glory days of the past. Not me. The best is yet to come.
Regrets? I have a few. (Great song lyric) If I could go back half a century or so and do some things over with the benefit of hindsight I now possess, I am certain I could save myself and those around me a lot of grief. But I can’t, so that’s not my focus, ever. My focus is upon today and tomorrow, mostly tomorrow.
I am preparing a sermon for this week that talks about what healthy transitions look like because that’s what is on my heart right now. I want to release and empower the next generations of leaders around me while I have the positional authority to do so and the years left to enjoy the results. Not all transitions are successful. I have read the literature on this subject in-depth, including some case studies of disastrous transitions.
The Bible has lots of great examples of passing the torch without fumbling and those are the examples we should seek to emulate. I’ll give you the opening line of what I have written so far:
ALL pastors are interim pastors.