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Surviving Congregational Change

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Surviving Congregational Change LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY TRANSITIONS: SURVIVING CONGREGATIONAL CHANGE A Thesis Project Submitted to Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF MINISTRY By Reginald Dean Weems Lynchburg, Virginia February 2013 Copyright 2013 Reginald Dean Weems All Rights Reserved ii LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY THESIS PROJECT APPROVAL SHEET ______________________________ GRADE ______________________________ MENTOR: Dr. Frank Schmitt Professor of Educational Ministries Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary ______________________________ READER: Dr. Elmer Towns Co-Founder & Vice President, Liberty University Dean, School of Religion, Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Anyone who has written a doctoral dissertation understands the importance of a supportive wife. In that regard I can only speak of my wife Teana in the superlative. We are childhood sweethearts whose love has grown in thirty-seven years of marriage. No person on earth knows me better or loves me more. Heaven will only increase that mutual love so we look forward to the future with the same energy and joy as we relished getting married, having children and celebrating grandchildren. My mother was the most influential person in my life as a child. Her passion for me led me into a life that valued knowledge, education and reading. No kindness extended to her would ever repay the debt I gladly owe her. Heritage Baptist Church has been the soil in which this dissertation has grown. My experience there has enabled me to value the long pastorate, to experience it and to encourage others to enjoy its benefits. A long pastorate is not the success of a single person yet there are too many people to publicly acknowledge. May God grant his blessing to those who have blessed my ministry at Heritage. It was my privilege to be a student in the last resident Doctor of Ministry class Dr. Frank Schmitt taught at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Since that time his knowledge, wisdom and expertise have benefited my life, ministry and this dissertation. As my mentor for this project, he has patiently guided me with essential counsel without which this venture would not have been completed. iv In the process he has become a friend whose direction has been invaluable. I am grateful to God for the blessing of our relationship. It seems that Dr. Elmer Towns and I have been friends for a lifetime. He has been of lifelong ministry influence and it was only fitting that he suggested the topic of this dissertation. I became acquainted with Dr. Towns when he graciously accepted the request to visit my first pastorate and teach 154 Steps 154 Steps to Revitalize Your Sunday School and Keep Your Church Growing. Thereafter he has always been personally available to me as a friend, mentor and model. The dream of obtaining a Doctor of Ministry degree is the result of his continual involvement in my life. His personal and ministry value to my life is beyond acknowledgement or recompense. I am however assured that his eternal reward will reflect God’s acknowledgement of such influence multiplied ten- thousand fold. Kim Holloway, an enduring friend and Associate Professor of English and the Director of the Writing Center and Online Faculty Development at King College in Bristol, TN, was kind enough to review this project and make format corrections. The thesis would not have been presentable without her expert and long-suffering kindness. Of course all gratitude and glory must be eventually attributed to Christ. My heart joins with others in ascribing “glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever” (Jude 1:25). No better accolade can be given than his own word which reads “To him who sits on the throne and to the v Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13). For Christ and His kingdom, Reggie Weems Johnson City TN, 2013 vi ABSTRACT TRANSITIONS: SURVIVING CONGREGATIONAL CHANGE Reginald Dean Weems Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, 2013 Mentor: Dr. Frank Schmitt The Holston Baptist Association is the oldest Baptist Association in Tennessee. Established in 1786, the Association presently boasts 106 congregations. Yet for all of its success, statistics reveal that pastoral longevity is not the norm for its churches. This project will analyze the tenure of present pastors within the Holston Baptist Association and provide a blueprint for pastoral longevity in the midst of local church transitions. It will utilize the history of Heritage Baptist Church, Johnson City, Tennessee (USA) and the present pastor’s 21-year tenure as a source of research and model for successfully navigating that change. Although specifically intended to benefit the leadership, pastors and churches of the Holston Baptist Association, such a study will profit any pastor and/or church seeking the benefits of pastoral longevity. Abstract length: 126 words vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………….….vii TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………….…viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION………………..…...………………………1 CHAPTER TWO: THE HOLSTON BAPTIST ASSOCIATION AND PASTORAL LONGEVITY……………………………………………...93 CHAPTER THREE: THE HERITAGE STORY..…….………………...….…102 CHAPTER FOUR: FROM FREE WILL BAPTIST TO SOUTHERN BAPTIST…………………………………………………………..…...109 CHAPTER FIVE: FROM BUSES TO FAMILY MINISTRY….…………….124 CHAPTER SIX: FROM ONE PASTOR TO SIX PASTORS TO ELDER…..139 CHAPTER SEVEN: EVER-CHANGING WORSHIP STYLE…….….........156 CHAPTER EIGHT: LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION! AND BEYOND!..............................................................................................161 CHAPTER NINE: LESSONS LEARNED…..……………………..…………166 CHAPTER TEN: CONCLUSION………………………….………………….228 BIBLIOGRAPHY….…………………………………………………….....…..230 VITA……………….…………………………………………………………...238 IRB APPROVAL…………………………..……………………………………......241 viii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Every pastor is a Christian for whom the ultimate goal of all God’s predestined activity is “to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29), the Lord Jesus Christ. Each pastor is also the agent of such sanctifying work in the church. Conformity to Christ is not just for pastors. God desires every Christian to be conformed to Jesus’ image so that Jesus “might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29). As such, pastors are simultaneously subject to change and agents of change. And change is synonymous with crisis and conflict. The necessary transition from sinner to saint places myriad pressures on both the pastor and congregation. This conflict is exponentially multiplied by the pastor’s history and that of the congregation, the politics of the church, the number of congregants and the unnumbered, often invisible influences the pastor has in each church member’s life. This is to say nothing of the spiritual warfare conducted by Satan against the body of Christ. While a pastor leads his congregation through the changes that challenge the status quo of the “old man” (Ephesians 4:22-24) and transformation into the “new man” (Ephesians 4:22-24) he is also undergoing supernatural change causing both internal and external conflict. As “gifts” to the church God “gave the . shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:8 & 11-12).1 Peter spoke to the value of pastors when he wrote “the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 1 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version. 1 2 20:28). He then noted the eternal reward of pastoral ministry when speaking to under shepherds, he wrote “And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4). In other words, the Father granted pastors to the church, the Holy Spirit calls and equips pastors for the ministry and the Son will reward pastors. The office of pastor is granted importance, value and worth by the Trinitarian effort involved in pastoral ministry. All of this adds to the seriousness with which pastors must consider fidelity to their divine calling. Pastoral longevity is certainly one aspect of that obedience. Warren Wiersbe writes: Every Christian must make vocational decisions, it is true; but the pastor’s decisions in this are, I believe, most critical. What he does not only affects his family, but it also affects his own ministry and the welfare of the churches. Mistakes can be fatal. We are suffering today the tragic consequences of short pastorates. Local churches too often remain small and weak because they lack the long-term care of a concerned shepherd who will ‘stay by the stuff.’ Granted, some men are not made for longer pastorates; but I believe more men would remain with their charges if they better understood the dynamics of making this critical decision.2 Eugene Peterson is equally concerned about short pastorates. He writes “the norm for pastoral work is stability. Twenty- and thirty- and forty-year-long pastorates should be typical among us (as they once were) and not exceptional.”3 Yet such an ideal is not the majority case in Christian ministry. “In looking at the tenure of pastors, it appears 4 that the dominant tendency is for pastors to move too quickly.” 2 Warren Wiersbe in the Forward to Gerald W. Gillaspie. The Restless Pastor (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974), 7. 3 Eugene Peterson. “The Jonah Syndrome.” Leadership Journal http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/1990/summer/90l3038.html?start=8 (accessed May 9, 2012). 4 Lyle E. Schaller. Survival Tactics in the Parish (Nashville: Abingdon, 1977), 25. 3 There are myriad reasons why this is not the norm for 21st century pastors but in reality only one of two possible scenarios exists for pastors; termination, which includes forced termination, a matter to be discussed later in this paper, or leaving of one’s own choice. But neither Wiersbe, Peterson nor Schaller direct their comments toward forced terminations. They are concerned that pastors willingly leave pastorates too early and for invalid reasons.
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