Update and Recommendation to Extend Service of Intentional Interim Pastor
Our church called Dr. John Tadlock to serve as our Intentional Interim in the Fall of 2010. Most of our first year together was consumed dealing with church staff issues and interpersonal struggles in the fellowship. The level of discord made it nearly impossible to begin the Intentional Interim process. In September 2011, the church extended Dr Tadlock’s tenure for six months and elected the Transition Team. Those actions marked the actual beginning of the transition process. After a significant period of training, the team led the church into our first transition task.
With the able help of Joey Haire, a “Time Lane” was constructed and we began to visualize and explore our history. We have learned much from this exploration of our journey together. The congregation has been involved through a shared time in joint Sunday School, through survey instruments, by contributing to the “Time Lane” and through significant worship experiences planned by the pastor and the Team. This first task was completed last Sunday with our service of confession and “burnt offering” to the Lord.
The Transition Team has already spent several weeks working on our next major task—our Mission Task. This task involves the exploration of our passion as a church and our calling. We are trying to answer the question, “What is God calling us to do at this time in this location, and what does he want us to do in terms of mission beyond our community.” Also, a lot of time has been spent squarely facing the problems we have encountered and unhealthy patterns that exist in our congregation.
Beginning next Sunday, the church will begin a series of Sunday School lessons focused on the five practices that fruitful congregations utilize and hone on an ongoing basis. We believe we can emerge from this task with a clearer understanding of our mission, our core values, and the concrete actions that we must take to accomplish that mission.
Two other important transition tasks are already underway. 1) A review of our leadership and our guiding documents will help us see if we are staffed and organized optimally for the ministry God has called us to do. 2) A study of our external relationships and partnerships will clarify who we relate to for the accomplishment of our shared mission beyond our community. These tasks are being accomplished by subgroups of the Transition Team while the whole team works on the Mission Task.
When the Mission Task, The Leadership/Organization Task, and the External Relationships Task are completed, we will be ready to tackle the final task—a focus on our future.
The Future Task involves electing and training a Pastor Search Committee and finalizing our ministry plan for the immediate future.
Pastor Tadlock is an important part of this ongoing work. We are making good progress but we are not at the end of the transition by any means. We should complete the special Sunday School focus on “Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by mid April. After that, we should be able to complete our tasks by the end of April or in early May. We need the Intentional Interim Pastor’s experience and expertise to help us complete the tasks before us.
Therefore, the Transition Team unanimously recommends to the deacons that we extend Dr. John Tadlock’s service as Intentional Interim Pastor for an additional six months.
The advantages of doing this are as follows:
1. We will have continuity of leadership during a process that needs consistent, skilled guidance.
2. Dr. Tadlock has been with us long enough to get to know many of our people and will continue to provide ongoing pastoral ministry.
3. The Transition Team believes the church is moving in a positive direction and we do not want to send a signal that we are suddenly redirecting our efforts nor that we are unable to work with the leader we called for the transition work.
4. This extension should be accompanied by an opportunity for the congregation to provide feedback to Dr. Tadlock on his ministry. The Transition team will work with Dr. Tadlock to develop an instrument for this purpose.
The disadvantages are few:
1. We acknowledge that the congregation is restless about “getting on with calling a pastor,” and this may feel like a delay. However, we believe this can be managed with good communications and regular progress reports.
2. The salary we are paying is high in light of our financial situation. However, we need to develop our stewardship so that we can afford to call a new pastor. The salary we are currently paying is not excessive when compared to what we will have to pay for a well-qualified pastor.
Your Transition Team continues to pray fervently and work hard so that we as a church can be all God wants us to be.
Coming to terms with history means ferreting out and addressing those problems that have dimmed our vision as well as recognizing and truly appreciating the church’s strengths and accomplishments through the years.
