(This post first appeared on Missio Alliance)
Last year I finished my ministry at the church which I had been leading for 13 years. For about seven of those years my role was Senior Pastor. So that’s seven years of leading, vision casting, pastoring, nurturing a team, implementing change, managing conflict in a local congregation. Seven years of joy, frustration, pain, hopes fulfilled and dashed, sacrifice, abundance and love in action for better or worse. It’s been quite the journey. I have been out of the role now for only three months and I’m still trying to identify and articulate what I’m feeling. However, recently when I was reflecting on how I feel now that I no longer have the Senior Pastor role and I was trying to give words to my thoughts, a very clear sentence came out of my mouth: “I feel more human.” It was a very surprising thought really, even to me, as it surfaced. I feel more “human” now that I no longer have the title Senior Pastor.
Continue reading What Happened When I Stopped Being a Senior Pastor