My New Role: Pastor of Discipleship

Last night was a very difficult night for me.  Last night was the night that we shared with our students about some of the things that we have been working hard on, behind the scenes, to make South Hills a more effective church.  Part of this will include a role transition for me.  Starting September I will be transitioning out of student ministries and into a new role: Pastor of Discipleship.

About two months ago I had a conversation with the leadership of our church and during that conversation I was asked to transition into this new role to help us grow the church.  This new role is going to stretch me in some pretty big ways and as I have prayed through it I think it's going to stretch my faith also.

About a year ago it became evident to me that our High School Ministry was functioning like a one-legged pirate.  I shared this with leaders and students.  Now one-legged pirates are cool and people want to see them and take their picture with them but they are not balanced.  Our High School Ministry was not balanced in the Biblical Purposes and it was hurting our growth in students lives.  This same analogy works for our church.  Our church has a great week worship experience but we are lacking in discipling believers.

As I move into this new role, initially, my main responsibility will be to build on what we currently have going in our Life Groups area.  As we develop those, recruit more leaders and get more people in church involved them my role will expand.  Some areas we have talked about would include: Missions (local and global), Spiritual Formation, and Accountability.  I would really appreciate your prayers as we move into this new role and transition out of student ministries.  

Now let me share some things about this change:

• Chase Feindel, our Middle School Pastor, will provide leadership for all Student Ministries
• I am not in trouble
• This new role is going to stretch me
• Charity and I have prayed about this role and feel God leading us in this direction
• We love our church
• I have spoken with our Elders at our church and the affirmation I have received from them is: "Neal, we think you are the only person on our staff who can do this."
• My pastor, Kevin Wehr, have given me his vote of confidence to lead this area of ministry