“I like change, I just don’t like to be around when it happens.”  Adrian Monk

I want to share a little in this post about my experience as the Pastor of a church in transition.  I have not said much about this in writing, because our story is still being written.  But I think what I’m about to share is true universally, and will help leaders going through seasons of change.  I was called to Pastor the famous Monte Del Olivar Christian Church of Beeville in January of 2012.  MDO as we called it, was a congregations nearly 80 years old at the time with a rich history.  I did not come to Beeville to bring change.  That was not why I thought I had been called.  But God had other plans.

In a nut shell, my tenure at MDO in the first three and a half years consisted of a new pastor (that was me), a new church government structure, and a new name (now Kingsway Church).  Beyond that we slaughtered a series of sacred cows one by one.    The beauty of this story is that there were no church fights, nor long drawn out divisive board meetings.  The entire process was conducted in unity, as the Spirit of God lead us towards a new identity and purpose.

That’s not to say that it was easy.  But change never is.  And that is the purpose of this post.  I just want to remind you that no change worth making will be easy.  There will be risk involved.  There will be critics.  There will be moments where you wish you never started down this road.  But, if you are lead by God’s Spirit, you will see the fruit of obedience.

Ultimately change comes to bear witness that God has a future in store for you.  Think about it.  If God were done with your church, why would He go through the trouble of changing it.  You really only need to change those things that you intend to reuse or re-purpose.  So it might be helpful to change your perspective on change.  Start seeing change as proof that God isn’t done yet.  Evidence that God is taking your church or organization to a new level.  All living things grow, and all growing things change.  So its come down to this, “change or die.”