It was maybe a year before I retired that I had a conversation with my son Nate about the future of the church, in which we talked about the struggle we had had to turn leadership over to his generation. It was hard work; the usual pattern is, people do the work of the church, get into positions of leadership where they oversee the work, then when it comes time to hand leadership off, they ask others to do the work, but want them to "do it the way we tell you to do it."
The hard part of transitioning leadership is letting go of the control of ministry. By the time leaders are ready to back off a bit, they're tired of doing the work, but expect the next generation to do it the way they did it. Of course, that never goes over too well, with the result that the new, potential leaders get tired of being told what to do, give up trying to actually lead, and give the whole ball of wax back to the original leaders who by now are too tired and played out to do much of anything. Things go downhill pretty quickly at this point.
So Nate and I had this conversation. It was pretty evident that we had successfully transitioned leadership to his generation. "The question now," I said, "is what are you doing to prepare your next generation for leadership?" Nate is 42 (I know...it's hard to imagine someone as virile and energetic as myself being the father of a 42 year-old son, but you have to trust me on this one.). If this generation isn't active now in preparing the next generation, when they are needed, they won't be there.
I'm pleased to say that Nate listened to his father on this. I've known for some time that he's been doing this, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. That's the nature of this kind of work; you pour yourself into some people who, it turns out, just don't quite cut it; but there are others who rise to the top and make your investment of time and energy worthwhile. Tonight as our Spring Fling was just gearing up for the evening, I noticed Nate, guitar slung over his shoulder, coat and hat on, making a beeline for the front door. I figured he'd be back, since just a few minutes before he had taken the time to chow down on the dinner of chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I was mistaken. Not about his enthusiastic enjoyment of dinner, but about his coming back. He didn't.
When it was time for the kids to sing, the teen band was up front, with Jeremy leading the way. Just as Nate has done for years, he sang out, "Hey kids!" to which they answered, "Hey Jer-e-my!" just the way they had answered Nate the evening before. Jeremy reminded the kids of the rules: "When we sing, we sing LOUD! And when we're not singing, we are (now in a whisper) QUIET." He then began leading the kids in the evening's songs, and I thought to myself, "the NEXT generation is on the move!" It is exciting to see one's life-labor not only bearing direct fruit, but seeing it taking root in my grandchildren's generation. I am one deeply and humbly grateful retired pastor tonight!
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