Photo by Pop-Zebra from Unsplash

Earlier this summer in our city, Colorado Springs, a violent hail storm came over the Front Range and with little warning hit the world-class Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Guests and staff dashed for cover as tennis ball-sized hail pummeled the facility.

The aftermath? Fourteen people were injured and went to the hospital, two zoo animals died, and over 400 cars in the parking lot were trashed with 4-inch dents and shattered windshields. All 3,400 zoo guests had to be bused to a local high school being used as a Red Cross Evacuation Center.

Imagine if you had been at the zoo that day! Your expectation of a wonderful outing turned disastrous. Now what? No car. How do we get back home or to our hotel? What about the rest of our vacation? How do we get our car repaired? If it was a rental, what’s the next step?

Leaders will have unexpected storms cut across their journey.

Life becomes stressful when thunderstorms pop-up unexpectedly. Likewise, occupy almost any leadership role long enough, and unexpected storms will cut across your journey in a most unwelcome way.

Test of our Leadership

This is one of the greatest tests of a leader’s character and abilities: facing the aftermath of an unforeseen storm. And for church leaders, of all the potential traumatic tempests, losing your #1 guy in a startling manner is right at the top of the list.

After all, his hasty or sudden exit, typically means something has morally crashed in him and the personal and corporate damage is extensive. And, who has been trained or prepared to handle the upheaval and repercussions from the abrupt departure of their senior pastor?

The Unanswered Questions of Abrupt Pastoral Transition

The uncertainty we feel to lead in times like these is harshly revealed in the unanswered questions that keep circulating in our minds:

• What just happened?
• How did it get to this point?
• How could he have done that?
• How could I have been so blind?
• Who else is involved?
• What is the fallout going to be?
• How do we move forward or recover from this?

Questions like these are not easily or quickly answered. These questions usher us into an environment which The Conference Board* calls a VUCA environment: volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.

Whether you are an elder, deacon, staff member, or have a role on the church council –how ready are you to lead in a season that has suddenly become unpredictable, precarious and unclear? How does a church leader face their own internal issues of doubt, misgivings, fear, hesitancy, tentativeness, and suspicion?

This is right where Transition Resource Ministry can come alongside and help to infuse confidence in a season of uncertainty….those VUCA times!

Confidence begins by having realistic expectations. In VUCA moments we need to give-up trying to manage what can’t be controlled. When your senior pastor abruptly departs, this is not a problem you can fix, rather it’s a season to shepherd.

By the way, the subtle and extremely powerful temptation will be to reverse the popular axiom:

Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.

Obviously, we don’t want to exhibit over-reactive behavior where we make too much of a minor issue (i.e. running around like a chicken with our head cut-off).

But when the senior pastor hastily exits it is no molehill! We are prone to the opposite:

Making a molehill out of a mountain.

The danger will be under-reactive behavior where we minimize a major issue.

An action step to take

In my next blog I’ll address why we are prone to cave-in to this under-reactive temptation, but for now here is an action step: ponder the following questions about how your personal leadership character and abilities are being challenged by the abrupt departure of the senior pastor.

Then take it a step further and share these questions with the whole leadership team so you can openly discuss your answers together.

• Am I able to identify what I sense is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous in our church right now?
• How overwhelmed am I feeling at this VUCA moment?
• What are the critical decisions that need to be made for the church in the next 90-days?
• Since I’ve never been down this road before, whose counsel and advice am I, and other leaders in our church, leaning upon?
• Are any of my responses to this VUCA situation motivated by pride, fear or shame? Am I asking the Holy Spirit to temper my reactions with humility, love, and grace/mercy?

If you and your team could use someone coming alongside to walk with you as you start this pastoral transition, contact me at rick@interimpastor.org for resources that can be custom fit for your situation.

-Rick

* The Conference Board is a non-profit, independent, global business membership and research association.