May 6, 2010 by Allen Coleman 0 comments

Posted in: Church

February of 2009, a significant decision was made...our new Lead Pastor was hired. One month later, we fired him. 

Of course, I'm talking about me. When I first arrived at Epic Faith, it was imperative for me to lead well. There was a host of challenges ahead of us and I desperately wanted to see all of them overcome. For the first time in my life, confidence in my own gifting and experience wasn't enough. I became convinced that momentum and obedience were directly proportional to one another. So, as you can imagine, the first subject which required biblical study was appropriately "leadership". It didn't take much looking to determine that everything I knew about church organization was wrong. 

I'm not going to spend a lot of time expanding on what the Scriptures teach about church organization. If you would like more details about our model and findings, you can read them here. What you DO need to know is this: I'm not in charge. I do not sit at the head of our church. Our mission and vision is not determined by me. The Bible emphatically states that this title and role is held exclusively by our King, Jesus Christ. Therefore, any notion of there being a "Senior" or "Lead" Pastor at our church is simply misguided. It robs Jesus of the glory only He deserves.

So, I did what anyone would do if they held the Bible as their absolute authority: I "fired" the idea of a Lead Pastor. I gave up the title and the authority that went with it. Which is not easy, might I add, for someone who likes to be in charge. Over the next year, I would soon learn just how important this decision was. And I would like to take the next few minutes expanding on why this decision, above all others, was our most important.

Have you ever walked in on your kids fighting over a particular toy? A certain spot on the couch? The last brownie? I have. Sometimes I get the impression they would rather see the object of their disagreement cease to exist than to concede it to the other. I see the exact same thing manifest itself in churches. I have been part of churches that have split, fired Pastors and hid the truth. Preferences are a powerful thing. For example, the reason a church splits is usually not because of an "issue". The split happens when two parties disagree about who has authority over that issue. Is it the Elders? The Senior/Lead Pastor? The congregation? I believe if more Churches recognized this as the issue, we would have less in-fighting. Reason being, whether you agree with a decision or not is irrelevant. It is your proper assignment of authority over the issue that limits your degree of objection. 

For me, I recognize that our ultimate authority is Jesus. If that's true, each Elder/Pastor in the room is empowered and selected with just as much authority as I. Therefore, I need to ease of the throttle when the Holy Spirit sends up a red flag via any one of the Elders. By moving to a model of consensus leadership, we have to lead daily from this reality. We believe God intentionally designed the Church to function this way for this exact reason. Plurality of leadership is like a surge protector. No solitary surge of power can damage what is most precious. Reason being is we lack the authority to do so. So the first reason this decision was so important is this: We are aligned with the reality that we have no authority outside of Jesus. 

A few months after this decision was made, I found myself regularly coming before the congregation asking them to lay down their preferences. As we all know, this is no small request in the world of church complacency because we grow accustomed to things like worship style. However, in the wake of changing our leadership model, people were less resistant to these requests. We found that the second reason this was so important was this: It set a precedent of submission that everyone else would follow. In other words, when I went first...it communicated obedience. Obedience is much easier when we observe our leaders step out first. If you don't believe me, try telling your 7-year-old that smoking is bad for him while puffing the other end of a Marlboro Light. 

Finally, the most important thing we saw come out of this was something intangible. Intangible, yet visible to all. In fact, so visible that churches from all over the county and other states would take notice. The decision bred unity. The different men on our Elder Council depend on one another. Each with a unique gifting that is invaluable to the collective whole. Every decision that is made is done so together. You can't really complain about a decision that you are equally empowered and culpable for. That unity transcended our Elders into the rest of the Church, as a whole. Our mission, vision and direction is always formed in plurality. There is no confusion as to who is in charge. If any one of our Elders were to burn out (physically) or burn up (morally) it would be tragic, yes, but not devastating. No one man can take down the bride. We are setting the precedent that this church is not built on a personality, or a program or a style. This church is built on the birth, life, message, mission, death and literal resurrection of Jesus. Many church congregations become uneasy when they have to go without a Senior Pastor and search for a new one. The truth is, their Senior Pastor never went anywhere.

Shortly after we made this change, I had a few people struggle with this. They grew up in church structures modeled after corporate America, rather than biblical precedence. They liked the idea of knowing the "buck stops here" with someone. My reply was simple: That hasn't changed. It still stops with our Senior/Lead Pastor.

However, unlike me...His door is always open, 24/7. He can always be reached. He never screens His phone calls. His name is Jesus and He sits at the right-hand of God.Why Firing Our Lead Pastor Was So Important. (that's me)

Where does your Senior/Lead Pastor sit?