THOUGHTS ON AN EXIT STRATEGY

Transcription

1 THOUGHTS ON AN EXIT STRATEGY When Is It Time to Go? Based on Deuteronomy 27:12-23 Pastor Andrew W. Mueller Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, Las Vegas, NV Southern California Delegate Conference June 12-13, 2015

2 Deuteronomy 27: When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. 13 And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. 14 The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice: 15 Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of the craftsman s hands and sets it up in secret. 16 Cursed is the man who dishonors his father or his mother. 17 Cursed is the man who moves his neighbor s boundary stone. 18 Cursed is the man who leads the blind astray on the road. 19 Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow. 20 Cursed is the man who sleeps with his father s wife, for he dishonors his father s bed. 21 Cursed is the man who has sexual relations with any animal. 22 Cursed is the man who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother. 23 Cursed is the man who sleeps with his mother-in-law. A Small Sampling There are obvious times to go. You show up in the middle of dinner. You can tell your prospect s more enthused by the burgers hot off the grill than by the prospect of talking to you for the next half hour. Make your abbreviated pitch. Say your thanks. Leave your card. And go. The new pastor s booked his moving company. His mail s being forwarded to the parsonage. People are dishing more about superficial things - his kids, his youth, his personality - than about anything spiritual 2

3 you ve dished out lately. They re just excited. You understand. But your vacancy term has just about ended. It s time to go. There are not so obvious times too. Your will to slog and study, prep and preach has faded. You don t present or proclaim anything with the I m gonna save the world fervor you did when you were first assigned. If it wasn t obvious enough or guiltriddling enough already, your brother in ministry lovingly points it out. Let s just say relevant and effective aren t the first adjectives that come to mind when I think of your sermons. And you re not so thrilled any more to give up four nights a week to council or to counsel; for prospect follow-ups, EMV s, BIC, choir, or anything else really. Even just a full day s worth of shut in calls elicits a big sigh. If this is what it s like at age 30, what will it be like at 60? Still, God s well timed gifts keep you going. It s like a come-back shot in golf. 8 holes have been downright dreadful. You re no Mickelson. But one solid fairway iron swing on the 9th might draw you back again this year. By your own admission, you haven t done much of anything to shake the bushes for months. Then God provides a gift - a big gift. A family. A funeral bequest. Even a devotional spur in your saddle. You name it. God gave it. It humbles you and motivates you just enough to serve another day at this place....but should you? Sure this small smattering of anecdotes only skims the surface. But should we take any of these as subtle, or maybe not so subtle indicators that it s time to move on? Measuring Up the Term If we measured the effectiveness of Moses ministry by his successes and failures, the indicators could point either way. Nothing suggests his abilities had diminished or that he lost his will. Nothing says his health precluded him from continuing (34:7) or that his peers advised him to quit. The Israelites still heard his voice willingly. They still recognized his shepherding authority and cherished it (34:8). On the other hand, no one over 40 was going to taste milk and honey. Not even Moses. God s people chafed to some degree under their law-giver. That is to say, they chafed under the law itself. And Jews realized it. That s why they voiced approval to the curses in context, In other words, Lord, we agree when you bring your judgment on law-breakers... We call this curse upon ourselves if we fail to keep your covenant! 1 1 Braun, Mark. People s Bible: Deuteronomy. My paraphrase. 3

4 So an Excel spreadsheet of pros and cons didn t convince Moses to stay or go. There were no measurable indicators he could pinpoint to say, These people need a change. Or, I really need to stay. 2 He wasn t fishing for a new call, or holding onto his current call because he thought he was the only hero who could keep the boat afloat. God issued his retirement call. That s how Moses knew the sun was setting. The Lord ended Moses long tenure as graciously as he inaugurated it. Was Moses looking for a call when the bush burned? When he received it, did he consider himself worthy? Yet by grace he was called and equipped. Later on Moses was prevented from setting foot in the promised land because he tried to take a slice of glory that rightly belonged to God. He tried to advance his own cause rather than the Lord s. Wherefore art thou humility? His last covenant readings in Deuteronomy make it sound like he learned his lesson. It s time for me to go because God says so, but also because I broke the first rule of the covenant. Perhaps in prescribing curses Moses was mindful of his own. In the end God s grace was working for Moses and the Israelites. Congregations and preachers need a break from each other. They can recommit to God s commands, vision, and mission rather than robotically clinging to someone who s grown - in his own eyes, people s eyes, either or both - larger than the ministry. Apart from Moses the Israelites went on to the promised land. Apart from the Israelites Moses went on to the Promised Land. Certainly Moses call differs from ours in that his came directly from God. Our calls come from God, but through a congregation. Our calls compare though in how they begin and end. I never asked to serve in Michigan. God called me there. He gave me my beginning. But I never begged to leave Michigan either. I only enjoyed the grace of leaving when God called me to consider it. He indicated when it was time to go. Only then did the need arise for an exit strategy. Personal Accounts I was assigned to a home mission restart out of Seminary. The goal was to lead a congregation of 33 souls with an average age of 62 from a house church in a deadbeat suburb of Detroit called Roseville to a storefront in a blossoming new community 10 miles north. The Synod committed $165,000 over 3 years to get the project going. The subsidy would help provide for my full-time compensation. Other offerings would subsidize a part time, semi-retired pastor. A few pastors pulled me aside on call day to offer advice about serving alongside the semi-retired pastor. I had no idea how much I d need their wisdom. The older pastor had some challenging personality traits. So do I. Mission and ministry got off to a nice start. But I was too young and dumb to handle issues well when they arose. Our pastoral partnership disintegrated quickly. Maybe pastors or teachers who say this need the congregation more than the congregation needs them. 2 4

5 The tension got so thick, I thought about leaving the parish every day during our tenure. Many more days I prayed for his ministry to end. When it finally did, it brought no consolation. I often wondered after he retired if he still belonged. Long after he retired, I doubt whether I belong. I cite this example only to say, it s not always your own exit strategy that needs your careful thought and consistent prayer. I think Siegbert Becker was credited for saying something like this. When you receive an assignment to your first church, you go there and work hard. After about 5 or 6 years you take a call. You apologize to your first congregation and you go and become a real pastor. I m still not much of a pastor. But let me share two brief points that helped frame my decision to accept the call to Beautiful Savior, Las Vegas after 6 years at Ascension, Clinton Twp., MI. Everyone and No One I ve always leaned on others quite heavily. I try to soak up ideas, notes, resources, advice, and insights wherever I find them. During my deliberation I sought a lot of input from fellow pastors. Ultimately only one suggestion mattered most. Where can I best serve the Lord with my life right now? Earth shattering huh? Peer review was beneficial to some extent. But in the end no one had more influence on the decision than I did. Personal Growth The Lord generously blessed our work at Ascension. That was always in spite of me, but especially the last two years where I was personally and pastorally stagnant. I thought some practical aspects of Beautiful Savior s ministry could help me grow as a shepherd: a quasi-administrative structure, a larger corps of volunteers, and a mission counselor on sight. Those things could change, but in the near term I prayed they could help maximize my spiritual gifts for the kingdom right now. Concluding Thoughts Did Moses have an exit strategy? Yes, in the sense that he weighed what people needed to hear before he left. It wasn t a brutal assessment for him to check off curses here. It was in fact loving, because in them he reiterated the essence of the old covenant. He knew by experience how stubborn people had been. So he conveyed with thoughtfulness, love, and repetition the most important truths he wanted them to remember. He explained later, Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day... They are not just idle words for you they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess (32:46-47). Moses didn t use his exit to take liberal pot shots. He used it as an occasion to speak with compassion and candor. Not that Moses had waited his whole life to speak candidly. Pastors tell people what they need to hear all the time, not just when the sun sets. So another part of his exit strategy was realism. Moses is a hero of faith - 5

6 to us. Self-delusion never persuaded him that he d be impossible to replace. He knew the next man would fight as many sins and struggles as he did. And he knew the Lord would provide the right man for the job (34:9). Moses gazed over the promised land confidently then, not arrogantly. The same Jesus calling him away from this flock would guide the next man who took his place. God holds us all in the world of our experiences. The whole world is his seminary. Moses served faithfully in the call he held until the Lord ended it. When it was all over, he couldn t look back. He closed out his ministry with peace - undoubtedly mindful of his mistakes, mindful of his people s needs, but very mindful of the Lord s mercy and providence. It was an obvious time for him to go. It may not always be that obvious for you. Leaving is not so simple as saying, I m getting old. And staying is never so vain as saying, They need me. The Lord will shepherd you through ministry experiences and give you the godly wisdom to know when it s time to go. When that time comes... Don t look back. 6