Surprise Findings in the XP Survey

What We Expected & What We Found

Let’s look at seven surprises that will give encouragement, challenge, and ideas to ponder as we move forward in this uncertain season. Jesus often used in his teaching the model, “You’ve heard it said … but I say to you …” Our recent survey of Executive Pastors revealed that many predominant narratives are not the reality for 2022.

Survey reports can be dull. Tables full of statistics that lie flat on a page. We found some gold nugget surprises in the data.

About the Author: Dave Travis

Since 2018, Dave has been the Director of Strategic Counsel to Pastors and Church Boards at Generis. After being mentored by Lyle Schaller, Peter Drucker, and Bob Buford, plus getting counsel from people like Jim Collins and William Bridges, Dave has learned a few things about Senior Pastor Succession. After retiring from Leadership Network in 2018 he has given himself full-time to helping his friends and churches with this process. He is a graduate of Georgia Tech, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, with additional courses from Harvard Business School, The Project Management Institute, Wicked Problem Solving, and others. His real education has been the thousands of large church pastors he has served, including the other 500 he has counseled in pastor succession.