Seasons of Change
Six years ago I left what I thought was the best job on the planet. I was the Executive Pastor at Granger Community Church, and for twenty years had gone on the ride of a lifetime. I started when I was 27 years old, joining a movement that grew from a couple hundred people in a movie theater to more than six thousand gathering weekly in four locations. I loved my role, my team, and raising our family in an amazing community.
We moved our family to Houston, Texas, in 2014, and I began in my role as Vice President of Consulting at Vanderbloemen. And guess what? It was the best job on the planet. I had the privilege to build a team of men and women who have helped grow Vanderbloemen to what it is today—a global organization serving more than 1,000 Christian organizations across 48 states and nine countries around the world.
These past six years, I boarded more than 650 airplanes as I flew to cities across North America and the UK to work with pastors and church leaders and help them solve problems. I sat with pastors to talk about succession, met with Elder Boards and search committees to help them find their next leader, and interviewed hundreds of men and women in transition who were looking for their next ministry assignment.
As recently as January of this year, I was asked, “Do you think you’ll ever be an Executive Pastor again?” Without hesitation, I replied, “No, I really don’t see it. I’m enjoying what I’m doing too much.”
I can’t explain it or pinpoint it, but that began to change a couple months ago. Something was awakening deep inside me that others noticed before I did.
For context, last June I began working with the Elders and executive team at Willow Creek Community Church. They had engaged Vanderbloemen in the search for their new Senior Pastor, and I was running point on our work. After months of getting to know the Elders, working with staff, diving into the mess and the beauty of the church—my heart began to be excited about their future. As we came down to the home stretch on finding and then announcing their Senior Pastor—I realized I was actually disappointed I’d no longer be working with them. I wanted to stay, to help build the next chapter.
When Dave Dummitt (the new Senior Pastor, who knew me from back in my Granger days) called me a few weeks ago and asked me to consider a conversation about joining him as the Executive Pastor—honestly, my heart about pounded out of my chest.
Over the next several days, Faith and I would make the decision to move back to the Midwest, and join the staff of Willow Creek Community Church as the Executive Pastor.
I’ve always asked leaders who are considering moving from one church or organization to another — “Are you feeling a pull toward something new? Or it it more of a push away from what you are doing now?” It’s often a mixture of the two.
For me, there has been no hint of a “push.” Leaving my team and work at Vanderbloemen was not an easy decision. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity I was afforded and the experience that I gained. I received 100% support from Sutton Turner and William Vanderbloemen as I considered this transition. I truly believe no entity does more for the kingdom in solving staff problems than the team at Vanderbloemen. I may no longer be on staff, but I will be a client for many years to come.
The “pull” toward what is emerging at Willow has been the thing that sealed this in our hearts. For you, Willow may be an entity, a movement, an organization that you have observed from a distance that has had some ups and downs. For me, Willow has become a people. I see faces. I see men and women who love Jesus and want to go about building a thriving local church.
My work at Willow has already begun, albeit in a social distancing type of way. The house is for sale, and there are a ton of details to figure out. I’ll be working remotely for a season, then commuting, and we hope to move to the northwest suburbs of Chicago by mid-summer.
I’m pretty excited about what is next. Willow has been part of my history for more than 25 years, and has played a role for me in some significant spiritual moments. God is doing something now at Willow that is undeniable yet largely invisible. The congregation is hungry to get past the headlines and focus on people far from God. The staff are engaged and ready. I’m jazzed to be able to jump in and pull my weight.
The future is bright.