Succession or Fired
Oh no, you need to have a series of challenging conversations that may lead up to a termination. The positive time is when a change is a planned succession …
Kairos or Chronos? The Question Every XP Needs to Ask
There's a moment most Executive Pastors know well. The budget is ready. The team is (mostly) aligned. The calendar says now is the time. And yet something feels… off. The church isn't ready. The [...]
Helping Your Senior Pastor Finish Well
One of the most strategic—and often overlooked—things you can do as an Executive Pastor is help your Senior Pastor get to the finish line well. I get a particular kind of phone call several [...]
Starting Scripts To Have Courageous—and Crucial—Conversations
This article was originally written as a follow-up to a talk called, Facing the Elephants with a room full of Executive Pastors at the XP-Seminar. But whether you lead a church, nonprofit, team, or [...]
You’re the One to Start the Succession Conversation
How Executive Pastors Can Help Each Type of Senior Pastor Begin the Smart Succession Process There's a conversation happening in churches all across the country, or more accurately, a conversation that needs to happen [...]
7 Transition Trends Every XP Needs to See Coming
Transitions are no longer occasional disruptions. They are becoming the defining leadership challenge of the next decade. Founder exits, board assertiveness, identity collapse, marketplace crossover, and rising leader isolation are reshaping what change [...]
Navigate Leadership Transitions
... with Clarity, Confidence, and Spiritual Wisdom Based on his extensive coaching experience with church succession and over 1,000 interviews with Senior Pastors and Successors, he has identified common missteps that can be easily avoided with [...]
“The Job Was Slowly Emptying Me”
Ministering as an XP, Dr. Nathan Baxter loved ten hours of his job. Those one-on-ones with staff fueled him; the rest of his responsibilities slowly emptied him. Naming that truth started a two-year journey [...]
Too Little, Too Late: The Succession Crisis No One Talks About
How churches unintentionally sabotage their future by delaying transition planning—and how to start now. Most churches wait too long to talk about transition, specifically succession. Momentum stalls, relationships fray, or a beloved leader quietly [...]
What Are the Odds You Will Finish Well?
I read a book in 1999 that posed this question: What are the odds you will finish well? I have never forgotten how it impacted me. I went on to develop a leadership coaching [...]
Making Sure You Get Succession Right
Best practices across 30 years and multiple cases Dave has coached 72 large churches through Senior Pastor Smart Succession.™ Plus he has had meaningful conversations with 500 more churches in the area of succession [...]
The Ripple Effect: A Strategic Approach to Staff Employment Decisions
Executive Pastors often face the difficult task of making staff employment decisions that can impact the entire church community. A mismanaged transition can lead to division, loss of trust, and diminished ministry [...]
Keys to Successful Hiring and Firing—Part 2
The number 1 resource that Executive Pastors manage is human resources. The top two keys to stewarding human resources is how we hire and fire. In part 2 of this webinar, we [...]
Keys to Successful Hiring and Firing
The number 1 resource that Executive Pastors manage is human resources. The top two keys to stewarding human resources is how we hire and fire. In this webinar we will talk about [...]
10 Steps to Communicate a Pastoral Transition
The decision to let a pastor go is never an easy one. But once the decision has been made, it's important to handle the situation with grace, dignity, and respect. After all, this is [...]
Avoiding Succession Sins (or Potholes)
What has changed since Covid on Pastor Succession? What are the biggest mistakes and traps that do-it-yourselfers in this process tend to make? The webinar will address these topics and: How a [...]
Is There Life After Ministry?
Helping Staff Transition To What's Next A question that lingers in the hallways of church offices and in the hearts of some pastors is, "Is there life after vocational ministry?" We know [...]
When and How to Change Ministries
Questions to Consider Before and After You Decide to Leave Feuding Cripples Church— That headline was plastered on page 1 of the city newspaper. By a 17-6 margin, the deacons and trustees had voted the [...]
When the Ground Shifts: Understanding the Magnitude of Ministry Transitions
Growing up in Southern California had its constants—the eternally pleasant 75-degree weather, the ever-congested freeways, and the notoriously high cost of living that always seemed to outpace a pastoral salary. It also had its [...]
Is There Life After Vocational Ministry?
When I was a pastor, I would have days where I thought I was the luckiest person on earth. Standing in front of a couple renewing their wedding vows, preaching a message I was passionate [...]
The Two Biggest “Misses” in DIY Senior Pastor Succession Plans
Pathbreaker Pastors and their churches deserve to see ministry momentum multiplied through a planned pastor succession process. Sadly, that rarely happens with churches and pastors that do it themselves. Why is that? [...]
Letting Your Pastor Go: Without Destroying the Pastor or Your Church
Church transitions are difficult, but they don't have to be destructive. No one gets into church leadership to scatter the sheep. They often want the best for the church and its members, but the [...]
Seamless Succession Planning
Pastoral Succession has been a taboo topic for far too long, but the truth is that every pastor is an interim pastor. Whether you are ready or not, succession is going to [...]
Senior Pastor Smart Succession
Lots of Senior and Lead Pastors are thinking about succession. In the next five years, pivotal leadership in your church could change. How you approach a succession can be the difference between [...]
When We Let Staff Members Go
What Is Ours to Do When We Let Staff Members Go? A blanket of sadness covered the office that Thursday as we waited anxiously to know whose names would be called. It was eerily [...]