How Southland Christian Church is Getting Leadership Transition Right

John Weiss's decision to transition from his role at Southland Christian Church serves as a model for healthy leadership changes. The conversation touches on the significance of timing, the art of selecting a successor, and the importance of preparation and humility in effective transitions.

• Leadership transitions should be timed with care and intention 
• Choosing the right successor promotes continuity in the church 
• Exemplifying humility in leadership reflects true discipleship 
• Churches must have documented succession plans for smooth transitions 
• It's essential to invest time in preparing future church leaders

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Leadership. Transitions in the church can be messy and sometimes they happen too soon, sometimes they drag on way too long, sometimes they just don't happen at all. But what if I told you that one of the largest churches in Kentucky is about to go through a transition, I think in a really healthy way? We're going to talk about Southland Christian Church's senior pastor and his transition here on the Healthy Church Staff podcast today. Thanks for joining me. My name's Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom. And today we're talking about Southland Christian staffingcom. And today we're talking about Southland Christian. It's a church, a large church in Kentucky, and their senior pastor, john Weiss, has just announced in the past few weeks that he's going to step down. And here's the really interesting part. At least this is the public story. I don't know the behind the scenes. Maybe there's a bunch of other stuff going on, I don't know, but this is what was reported in the newspaper. He's stepping down not because of burnout Okay, that's good. Not because of scandal that's really good. Not because of controversy, but because he genuinely believes it's best for the church. What, what? He's stepping down because he genuinely believes that's what's best for the church. Who does that? What kind of leadership does that? That seems so rare. So what can we learn about that? I think there's three things that we can learn from what Pastor John did here, and a lot of times we often take way too long or maybe we leave too soon. Both of those can destabilize a church, and what Pastor John is doing here is promoting, hopefully, a healthy church leadership transition.

Speaker 1: 1:55

Now Weiss has been there. He's served at Southland since the year 2000. So I wish it would have been 1999. Then I could have said the late 1900s, but he's been there since 2000. So I wish it would have been 1999, that I could have said the late 1900s, but he's been there since 2000. And he sees this dynamic of when should I leave? We did a whole podcast on this just recently and got a lot of really good reviews on that. But we talk in that about the Goldilocks moment. You don't want it to be too soon, you don't want it to be too late, you want it to be just right. So we saw this dynamic and he just determined he wants to get it right. He wants to do it when it's right, not just for him but primarily for the church. And he references Numbers chapter 8, where the priest began serving at 25 and they retired at 50. So he's choosing to leave on his own terms, according to the public reports. He's not being forced out, he's not being carried out right, he's not leaving too soon, he's not leaving too late, and I think this is a model of wisdom and humility that many churches struggle with.

Speaker 1: 3:02

What about your church? Do you have a leadership transition plan in place? Do you have a succession plan in place? Are you just hoping that things work out? I've heard churches all the time because we do this, we do a lot of succession planning and helping churches with their succession plans in our work at Chemistry Staffing, and a lot of times we hear churches that just say we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, or they'll say we don't need any help with this. We all love Jesus, the board loves Jesus, the pastor loves Jesus, everything's going to work out really well, I can tell you, man, we've seen so many churches where, if you don't have that written transition succession plan, it can be really rough. You can't just put all of your hopes on hoping that things are going to work out, because sometimes they don't.

Speaker 1: 3:51

Succession, leadership transition is very difficult. Okay, that's point number one. Healthy leadership transitions matter. Here's number two, though. You need to choose the right successor. Pastor Weiss isn't just stepping down. He is actively setting up his successor. His name is Scott Nichol, and he's setting him up as best he can for success. So Nichol's been a part of Southland's leadership team and, after years of really careful discernment, walking side by side with comfort Okay, that's really important. Pastor John has been working with Scott for years and Scott is one that didn't chase the title and, from what I can understand, he really wrestled with taking this responsibility, and that's a key takeaway for churches today.

Speaker 1: 4:51

I want you to hear this because it's absolutely true. The best leaders don't grab for power. They're called to it, okay, and when transitions are done really well, the congregation is going to see that continuity and not the chaos. So, again, this is like the perfect scenario, right, at least on paper. At least the public story is that you've got a pastor that's like thinking of his church and he's.

Speaker 1: 5:18

This is the time, and you know what? Not only is it the time, but I've, over the past years, invested in this person who's not trying to take my job, but feels called into this job. Maybe you don't have that person, and that's okay. It's not too late to start. Maybe it is too late to start If you're retiring in six months. It's too late to start that.

Speaker 1: 5:43

But does your church have a plan? Do you have a plan, if you're a senior pastor, to raise up new leaders? Who are you discipling? Who's being prepared right now for that next stage of leadership? Who are you getting prepared to some? Who's in your church that maybe someday could be a senior leader or could be the next youth pastor or could be the next worship guy or gal? Okay, so it's really important to choose the right successor. And then I think you really need and this is my last point here here's something I think that's really rare. Okay, really need and this is my last point here here's something I think that's really rare. Okay, pastor John, he's not leaving Southland to plant a church. He's not leaving to write church, to write books. He's not leaving to go on the conference circuit. Okay, he's staying as a regular member and I think that's powerful, okay.

Speaker 1: 6:40

So much of succession has to do with what the outgoing pastor wants to do and what Pastor John is doing. At least what he's saying hopefully his actions match his words is very powerful is that I'm stepping out. I've prepared the person that's stepping in and I'm going to step back and I'm going to support. And he says I just want to be a regular church member. That's powerful. It sends a message that his identity isn't or wasn't or won't be in his title, but his identity is as a disciple of Jesus.

Speaker 1: 7:15

How are you setting the example for what it looks like to transition? Well, and you say, todd, I'm not transitioning. I have to watch how you say that I'm not transitioning to a new role. You might say, todd, I'm not transitioning to a new role in the next six months or year or five years. That's okay. It's never too early to start coming up with your transition and your succession plan. Would you still be at your church if you weren't the one leading it? That's a huge question.

Speaker 1: 7:46

And as we close out this episode, I want to say that John Weiss's transition here is really and again I'm taking it as at face value from what I'm reading. I don't know John or Scott or any of the situation there, but as I've read it, this is just. It speaks of a case, of a case study in humility and wisdom. It speaks of church health, which, if you listen to the Healthy Church Staff podcast, I'm all about church health. You listen to the Healthy Church Staff podcast, I'm all about church health and his decision to step aside. It's not a loss for Southland it's going to be a change right, but it's a gain for the kingdom because this move, this transition, this succession models healthy leadership and if we want to see strong churches in the future, we've got to get these leadership transitions right today. What do you think about this? How has this kind of challenged you? How have you seen leadership transitions done well or not done so well at all?

Speaker 1: 8:50

I'd love to hear your comments. You can leave a comment wherever you're listening or watching this today. You can also send me an email. Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. I read each and every email that comes in, each and every email totally private and confidential as well, and I would love to be able to hear from you and start a conversation with you. So podcast at chemistrystaffingcom If there's any way that I can help you or your church or any of my team at Chemistry Staffing, come alongside your church and partner with you to help you find new staff members, to help you in initiatives, to help you become a healthy church staff. I would love to hear from you All right. Thanks so much. This is the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. I'm Todd Rhodes, and thanks for joining me today. See you again tomorrow.