Four Lessons I Learned From My Ministry Transition

You’re never fully prepared for something you’ve never experienced. I’ve been thinking a lot about that statement as I recall my first two years as the Student Minister at First Baptist Church in Spartanburg, SC. As prepared as my previous 8 years of student ministry could make me, there were many lessons to be learned when I stepped into this new position. There were aspects of the transition I was unaware of and obstacles I did not expect.

As you have probably heard or even experienced, any ministry transition brings its own challenges, both for the person exiting and the person coming in. At FBS, the person exiting the position had served for over 20 years. His reputation and legacy spoke for themselves. He had been a great student pastor and leader in our community. The ministry had been successful in almost every regard. It had grown numerically; the church built a multi-million-dollar student building, and he became known as a leading voice in student ministry across South Carolina. Talk about a legacy.

In early 2021, I served at a large church in Houston, TX. My wife and I felt the Lord clearly calling us to Spartanburg, SC. On the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, the student ministry at FBS was ready for change. I was encouraged to bring fresh vision and direction to the ministry. That part really excited me. As I began serving in the position, I saw many opportunities to do that. Our team had many moments of early success. For example, the Wednesday night service saw exponential growth in the first month. We had more guests attending than we could follow up with. Students were also giving their lives to the Lord. At one outdoor event, we baptized over 10 students. These are all examples of God’s work through fresh leadership and a great team. At the same time, I need to recognize the ministry team that was in place. Much of what made my transition smooth and successful was the men and women on our staff team. I owe a ton of credit to their faithfulness and passion to serve the Kingdom. However, there were also challenges. In the first two years, I made mistakes and poor decisions when it came to the transition of the ministry. In many of them, there was a lesson to be learned. Here are four of those lessons I’ve learned in these first few years in this role.

NO PERSON, MINISTRY, OR EVENT WILL EVER TRUMP GOD’S VISION AND DIRECTION

I am a strong believer in this statement. I’ve never read a story in the Bible where God’s direction came second to anything else. Ephesians 1:11 makes it clear that nothing is greater than God’s plan and purpose. God has a specific plan for you, your church, and your ministry. He has placed you where you are for such a time as this. Do you believe that? If you do, then the vision God gives you for that church or ministry is more important than a personal opinion or current activity. Do you know what I realized? Most people I encountered supported me through my God-called position and direction from Him. Whether people agreed or disagreed with a decision, they trusted the Lord’s leadership in my life. You must have confidence that if God gave it to you, He will see it through. If your vision is really from the Lord, nothing can stop it.

One of the first ways I experienced this was when I decided to address our approach to camp and missions. As I inherited a legacy ministry position, I also inherited a legacy ministry trip. This trip has proven effective and successful for more than 50 years. It was a mission trip that led to countless lives changed, students impacted, and many called into full-time vocational ministry. You couldn’t argue its value. However, God gave me a different vision. With all due respect, I wanted to move away from our focus on this trip and the zone of ministry. I wanted to create a space for a future summer camp. I wanted to approach missions differently. I believed this was God’s direction for our student ministry. When we made these changes, we encountered plenty of pushback from people. We also encountered incredible support and buy-in from people who trusted that I was seeking God’s direction.

A caution here: avoid the temptation to weaponize this statement. Because God’s plan is greater than anything else, it’s easy to use against people. Let it give you the confidence you need to move forward. Be careful to remain open to the voices of those around you. Often, God’s vision becomes clearer when the right voices speak into your ideas.

IT’S OKAY AND HEALTHY TO BE TRANSPARENT

There’s an opinion out there that says people don’t deserve an explanation. They just need to trust you and move on. If I learned anything, it was quite the opposite. The more vision you cast, the more margin you must leave for transparency. I hope you read that.

The greater the vision, the greater the transparency. There’s really no good or healthy reason why things need to be kept secret, confusing, or vague. I understand that discernment is involved in what is shared and how it is shared. However, the lesson I learned is less about the strategy of being transparent and more about the fear of being transparent. I quickly realized that my fear of being transparent meant I was not confident in what we were doing or planning. Some of this was related to building with the people in my ministry, but much of it was related to my self-confidence. I was afraid of mistakes I might make or how people might judge our plans. Ultimately, I learned that the reward was greater than the risk.

There were a few things I noticed when I decided that transparency would be a priority for us. First, people were more likely to support our decisions. The clearer and more descriptive I was, the fewer questions people had. Sometimes, people just want to know why. I am not saying every “why” gets an answer, but the more detail I gave, the more they understood my heart. Second, people were less likely to call or request a meeting with me. One of the lines I began to implement was, “If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call or set up a meeting with me. I would love to talk to you more about why we are doing this.” I found that providing that opportunity led to fewer people taking advantage of it. It seems some people want to know there’s an opportunity to be heard. Third, transparency gave people the space they needed to process. It gave them more to consider and think about. Being vulnerable is hard. It opens your ministry up to potential criticism. At the same time, it shows people you are honest and open to other perspectives.

PROTECTING THE PACE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROTECTING YOUR PLANS

When you make this type of transition, the pace is really important. Chances are, you’ve already got some frame of reference for how to do student ministry. Whether coming in from another church or straight out of school, you'll have an idea of what you want to implement. There were things I experienced that worked and things that didn’t work. I am drawn toward a specific style of student ministry. Naturally, I wanted to start or “fix” many things immediately. However, an important lesson for me to learn was to slow down. One of the reasons I came in hot was partly because I was coming in from a larger and faster ministry environment. At my previous church, more money was spent, more people attended, and more people made decisions. I had to be reminded that the pace of ministry, for me and our people, was more important than any plan I wanted to implement.

What I mean is it’s better to match your pace with the pace of the ministry you’re stepping into. Did you catch that one? You’ll never be able to catch the ministry up to you; therefore, slow down to match it. Give your people time. Remember, you’ve been marinating on your plans. They have not.

Here are a few ideas I’ll give you about protecting the pace. First, join in on the ministry that is already in place. One of the best ways to honor the people is to champion the ministry they’ve worked hard to create. Second, start small. Pick a few key people in the ministry to begin with. Start gathering perspectives. Listen to people and value their opinions. Third, get off social media. If you’re anything like me, social media in the church world will only stoke the fire of your plans (or plans you didn’t know you had). If you can’t stop wanting to do what someone else is doing, stop looking at what they’re doing.

INVEST IN TOUGH RELATIONSHIPS FIRST

Surprise, there are going to be those relationships. Yep, the ones you know are going to be a challenge. They are typically the ones that connect with you first, you notice first, or at least hear about first. Therefore, it makes sense to push those off and avoid them, right? No. I want to challenge you to start building trust and loyalty with those people first. You probably won’t be drawn to them in the onboarding process. You’ll be drawn to the people everyone talks about in a positive way. The people who are at high levels of leadership who fought to bring you in. I want to urge you to connect with any relationship that seems rocky or tricky.

Why? First, it gives them an opportunity to get on board or not. If they never get a chance to get to know you or hear your heart, they’ll miss the train when it comes. The goal here is to put the ball in their court. When you arrive, it’s yours, as the leader. But when you get to know them and give them a voice, you also give them a choice. Second, these relationships might prove to be your best. I can speak from experience on this one. I had some relationships that I thought I would lose within the first 4 months, but I ended up keeping them. Here’s the crazy thing: I know many of these individuals did not love the decisions we made, but because of our relationship, they supported the new direction. They even continued to serve in new ways.

Ministry transitions are never perfectly clean or easy. There’s an opportunity to grow, learn, and lead. God is already at work where you’re going… your job is to join Him there!

Share your thoughts with others in our YM360 community:

1. Have you gone through a similar transition? What did you learn? If you haven’t taken the time to reflect, do that now.
2. These four practices can be implemented in various ministry situations. Which one or ones do you connect with most? What is one step you can take to begin the practice?

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