Just Mercy- Book Review

Title- Just Mercy

Author- Bryan Stevenson

Publisher- Spiegel & Grau

Pages- Audio Book

Quotable- Since I listened to this book I don't have an exact quote to share

Last summer I attended the Global Leadership Summit and heard Bryan speak. His stories were compelling and heartbreaking. His delivery was spectacular but the pain in what he had seen was evident. Bryan is working in an area that many people would prefer to avoid and not engage. I got home and told my wife to which she replied, "I already read his book."

I've been using the "Overdrive" app to listen to books lately. Since I had listened to Bryan and my wife already read the book I knew I needed to listen to this book. Within the five five minutes I was hooked. I listened to almost half the book on a drive home from Big Bear.

Bryan shares real life situations about men and women who are placed on death row. Many of these people are minorities. Many of these people have no defense or at least inadequate defense. Many of the people are undereducated and unable to speak for themselves. Many of the stories are about people who have little income and no influence.

One of the main stories features an ongoing trail about a man name Walter McMillian. I won't spoil the story but he is a man who was surrounded by friends and family but was a victim of racism and poor leadership. Walter was falsely accused and sentenced to death row for a crime he didn't commit. Bryan shares about the difficulty he had in helping Walter also shares numerous other stories. I highly encourage you to read (or listen to) Just Mercy!

Leadership Transition

During my time in ministry I've seen some great leadership transitions and some train wrecks. The first transition I saw is one I will never forget. I was serving at a church and we were looking to hire a new Junior High Pastor. We interviewed a great candidate and it seemed like things were heading in the right direction. I was told we hired the guy and then quickly informed that we hired him as the Student Ministry Pastor and not the Junior High Pastor. I was a bit confused and learned that my beloved boss was being demoted and would eventually leave the church. Shortly after an opportunity came my way and I also transitioned away from the church.

I've also seen some great transitions. When I was called to serve at SHCC in Henderson, NV I served with a dynamic team of leaders. About nine months into my tenure there my good friend Rob Hall asked me to step up and lead our entire Student Ministry. I was thrilled for the expanded role. Rob and I had a long handoff where we co-led the ministry for a few months, shared preaching, did summer camp together and casted vision to our leaders. I led that ministry for six more years and saw God do great things!

These are just two examples from my life.

I've talked with friends who have been on both sides of the coin in leadership transition. I've talked to guys who came to a church and the last guy did them no favors in the transitions. I've also talked with friends who had great handoffs with Godly leaders. I've consoled friends who have lost dear friends when leadership made quick moves and talked with other friends who were frustrated at how slowly their church responded to a needed change.

A few months ago Willow Creek Community Church announced a leadership transition. Twitter was full of positive and negative comments. Friends in ministry talked about the announcement. Influential writers shared their opinion about the transition. Friends texted me to asked my thoughts about what Bill had announced.

For a while I've held my thoughts to myself and the few people I've spoken with. I thought they weren't entirely important but continued to dwell on them. Have you experienced something like this before? I topic came up and you need some time to figure it out? You wanted to process, internally, what you were thinking?

When I think of my experience with transitions in leadership here are my thoughts:

1) Internal leadership transitions seem to be better than external

For how big of a platform that Willow Creek has, I think their decision for an internal transition was a great call. I highly respect Bill Hybles and his leadership. He talks about hiring people with Godly character, who are competent in their role, and find chemistry with those you work with. After talking about this for years he added something new. He talked about putting people in the right climate. By them choosing an internal transition they knew their team already loved the area!

When serving in the Bay Area I worked at an amazing church. We had some internal transitions from young people who were interns coming onto full-time staff. By having an internal pipeline of leadership we knew what we were getting. This was a big take-a-way from my time in the Bay Area. I really enjoyed working with our team and seeing us promote people from within.

2) In the future I think we are going to see more churches led by a plurality of Godly leaders

As I think about church transitions, and now I want to talk primarily about the lead role, I think we are going to see more churches moving to a plurality of leaders.

Think about North Coast church in Carlsbad. North Coast has led the way in a plurality of leadership. From what I know, they have four lead pastors. I don't know any of these men personally but have learned from two of them. From what I gather, two are the primary communicators but I'm not sure what the other two men do (I'm sure it's great work like executive pastoring).

When I think about my generation there is a shift. We enjoy working in teams. This morning I was walking my daughters to school when my oldest said: "Dad we're doing a project on the Native Americans but I don't like it. At my last school we worked more in teams, here I have to do it on my own." She gets it! Working in a team is more fun, more collaboration and more ideas.

Read this information from the Barna Group on the average age of a Senior Pastor:

When George Barna published his 1992 findings in Today’s Pastors, the median age of Protestant clergy was 44 years old. One in three pastors was under the age of 40, and one in four was over 55. Just 6 percent were 65 or older. Twenty-five years later, the average age is 54. Only one in seven pastors is under 40, and half are over 55. The percentage of church leaders 65 and older has nearly tripled, meaning there are now more pastors in the oldest age bracket than there are leaders younger than 40.

I'm not opposed to leaders in their fifties leading churches, please don't hear that. I do think that we are going to see a shift and I pray it involves people of all stages of life. The church is longing for fresh vision and fresh leadership.

3) A long hand off helps prepare the people

When I think back to one of the most successful transitions I was a part of, I think the length of the handoff helped. Now I could see a handoff taking too long. If you are curious to know more about this, I encourage you to read Transition Plan by Bob Russell. I call this book a "plane ride read." You can read it quickly and talk with others about it. In the book, Bob talks about his transition with Dave Stone. I appreciate the time they worked together, the commitment they have to the local church and the openness in the handoff.

When the leadership of a church are open about the plan it allows the people to think more about the plan. When their is more time to discuss, there is more time to prepare, process and pray. I like to think about raising up young leaders today to lead churches tomorrow. One of my life goals is to invest into young leaders and raise you strong followers of Christ.

When you think about transition in a church, what would you add to the conversation.

New Call: New City, New Church

Seventeen years ago I made a commitment to God. While sitting in a jail cell late at night I said: "God if you're real get me out of here and I'll do whatever you want." It was a Hail Mary, a last chance effort. Never did I imagine that commitment would involve being a pastor!

For the last almost 5 years I've had the privilege of serving at Central Peninsula Church. In 2012 we moved our family to the Bay Area to follow the call of Christ. It's been a great learning experience that added to the decade of pastoral experience I came here with.

When we moved here I was 32 and had mainly served with students. It was a big step for our family to move here. God has given me the joy of leading a team of leaders to impact our region. CPC has entrusted me to lead a staff team of people. Our Elders have worked with me to hone my preaching style and grow in communicating to adults. For a few years I was able lead the charge for the Global Leadership Summit here. There was a season of serving as our children's champion and helping create consistency on all three of our campuses. Mark invited me to travel with him to Rwanda and Cambodia. In addition to that, I've had the awesome opportunity to lead our Young Adults ministry.

When we moved here our kids had never been to school. Sophie was three and Leah was two. They both had their first day of preschool while living here. They both started Elementary school here. They both learned to ride bikes here. We also added Isaiah to our family. They all started snowboarding in Tahoe while living here. What a gift it's been to live here.

About six months ago my mentor called me and said: "Neal, I know a church in Ventura that would be a great fit for you. They're going to be looking for a new pastor soon." He knew I had been open to a new call on my life. So I began processing with my pastor and elders. I sought wisdom from my mentor and a close group of friends.

After a few interviews with the search team in Ventura they unanimously recommended me to the elders at this church. I met with the elders and they unanimously recommended me to the church. After a weekend visit I was offered the role when the church voted to call me as the Senior Pastor with a 98% affirmation!

A few weeks ago I enthusiastically accepted the call to serve at Coastline Bible Church in Ventura. This is a bittersweet decision. Charity and I are going to miss our Bay Area friends who have become family. But we're thrilled to follow God on this new adventure.

Our heart has always been for God to move us closer to family. In recent months my parents have had some health issues so this is great timing. This move puts us much closer to family and brings us back to our So Cal roots. The role is a Senior Pastor. I've always had a sense that one day God would call me to lead a church (I can share more on this one day). I'm stoked for this opportunity to lead Coastline in this next season.

My role will wrap up here at CPC on June 11. I invite you to come hear my last sermon. Later that day our church is throwing a party to celebrate what God has done here. Our daughters will finish school up here and then we'll move to Ventura.

Keep your eyes out as the next post here I will share three ways you can pray for CPC, the Benson family and Coastline in the upcoming weeks.

My Expanded Role

This fall I begun taking on more leadership at CPC. The change did not happen immediately but came about through many conversations and prayer. About 18 months ago I actually had a young man approach me and say, "I've been talking with some leaders and we all think you would be a great fit. Would you consider leading our Young Adult ministry?" Now I was thrilled he thought I would be a good fit, but the request wasn't coming from our elders and I wasn't ready to entertain a conversation like that.

Fast forward to early Spring 2015 and our Executive Team began the discussion. We talked about some internal changes in our responsibilities. These were great conversations that happened over a period of time. If this was going to be a reality it mean a few things for me. I would need to:
Training up an a capable, talented, and very gifted young leader to be our children's champion.

It also meant I wouldn't have the capacity to continue leading the Global Leadership Summit. This was a tough choice because I've enjoyed this part of my role, but I think this expanded role was going to be more important.

Now it was time to begin communicating. This is a place where many people mess things up. Our Executive Team drew out a plan and began to execute. During the summer we announced the plan to staff and key volunteer leaders. It was met with overwhelming enthusiasm. Starting September the change was in full effect and now I'm leading our Young Adults ministry.

People have asked me questions on this transition and I want to answer some of them here:

Why did you say yes to this role?
Well I didn't say "yes" out loud at first (although I did inside). It took some conversations and prayer to get me there. After having conversations with my wife, my friends, and my pastor I said yes. Let me make it clear, It wasn't a reluctant yes. I understand the impact leading a group of young adults can have in the world. I really wanted to make sure it was God opening the door for me and not just me thinking it was a cool idea.

Ultimately I said, "yes" because I think investing in young people is one of the best things I can do with my life (besides loving God and loving my family). I want to be investing my life into others. I also want to connect more with young adults at my church. There was much affirmation that I was the right guy to do this. And I want to grow close now in hopes that many of us will be leading, side-by-side, for many years on the Peninsula.

Are you no longer a campus pastor?
I am still a campus pastor. I love leading my campus. I am so thankful to work with my elders, lead pastor and campus staff. This is not a completely different role, this is an expansion of my current role.

Are you excited to lead in this role?
Very much! Most of my ministry has been working with people younger than me. I'm excited to pass on some of what I've learned and to learn from our young adults. The first few months have been a whirlwind of learning and leading, I'm excited to learn more so I can actively lead this group closer to God.

Global Leadership Summit: Leaders Lunch

Last week we held a leaders lunch for the Global Leadership Summit. The Global Leadership Summit (GLS) is a yearly leadership event we host at CPC (more info).

At this leaders lunch I asked our Lead Pastor to share 10 reasons someone should attend the GLS. Here is what he said:

1. Everything is done with excellence
2. Speakers are diverse
3. Balances the Great Commission with the Great Commandment
4. Challenges me to think outside the box as a leader
5. Full-time, lay, non-profit and business leaders all benefit from the event
6. Gives good material for on-going training
7. Cheap and convenient compared to attending another conference
8. Get to sleep in my own bed
9. Gives a chance to connect with others on the Peninsula (creates unity in Christ)
10. Worth the cost 

We had a great turnout at the leaders lunch and I'm so thankful we host this leadership training event. If you've been to the GLS what would you add to this list?