Transitions
To state the obvious life is filled with transitions. Transitions in jobs, homes, kids, age, you name it. Well there was one transition for me that was different. That was becoming a pastor to a church planter back to a pastor.
Now you might ask, Are not church planters pastors? Yes and no. It depends. How's that for commmitment to a question? I know some pastors that would never make it as church planters. They are great pastors but church planting is not their gifting. I know some church planters who could plant churches in their sleep but to pastor those churches would be a disaster.
I'm stuck in the middle. I can pastor a church and have now proven that I can plant a church. But now I must go back to pastoring people. To transition between those two was both difficult and interesting. The difficult part was I had to put the "pastoring" inclinations I have on hold until we launched the church. I needed to focus completely on launching and not on pastoring a small group of people. What was interesting is that it made my life a bit easier. Instead of dealing with minutia I was focused on the big picture. God has wired me anyway to have the big picture in mind whenever I do anything. But it was great to just focus on that alone.
So what does that mean to not pastor? That means that I was not acting as a shepherd as much as I was acting like a coach. Yes I was leading the team but I was not trying to bandage up all their wounds and feed them all the time. They had to get that elsewhere. I was there to cheer them on and tell them they could do it. I really liked that role. And in some sense I still have to be that way in order to grow the church.
But I have begun to transition back to the role of a pastor, at least in part. I'm definitely here to pray for people, to counsel, and to serve. But my eye is still on the future of the church. One thing I am learning along the way is you cannot fight transitions. And they don't last forever. Enjoy them. Learn from them. Share the experience.
To state the obvious life is filled with transitions. Transitions in jobs, homes, kids, age, you name it. Well there was one transition for me that was different. That was becoming a pastor to a church planter back to a pastor.
Now you might ask, Are not church planters pastors? Yes and no. It depends. How's that for commmitment to a question? I know some pastors that would never make it as church planters. They are great pastors but church planting is not their gifting. I know some church planters who could plant churches in their sleep but to pastor those churches would be a disaster.
I'm stuck in the middle. I can pastor a church and have now proven that I can plant a church. But now I must go back to pastoring people. To transition between those two was both difficult and interesting. The difficult part was I had to put the "pastoring" inclinations I have on hold until we launched the church. I needed to focus completely on launching and not on pastoring a small group of people. What was interesting is that it made my life a bit easier. Instead of dealing with minutia I was focused on the big picture. God has wired me anyway to have the big picture in mind whenever I do anything. But it was great to just focus on that alone.
So what does that mean to not pastor? That means that I was not acting as a shepherd as much as I was acting like a coach. Yes I was leading the team but I was not trying to bandage up all their wounds and feed them all the time. They had to get that elsewhere. I was there to cheer them on and tell them they could do it. I really liked that role. And in some sense I still have to be that way in order to grow the church.
But I have begun to transition back to the role of a pastor, at least in part. I'm definitely here to pray for people, to counsel, and to serve. But my eye is still on the future of the church. One thing I am learning along the way is you cannot fight transitions. And they don't last forever. Enjoy them. Learn from them. Share the experience.
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