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Joyful Transitions

By Steve Gregg
There are many things I enjoy about serving on staff at Creekside. One of the key ones is the joy of serving on a team of pastors. Serving alongside Mike, Steve, Eric, and our residents makes the burdens of pastoral ministry lighter while multiplying the joys. Although I am the designated Lead Pastor, we function as a team sharing duties, feedback, and decision-making. The team approach also means we as pastors have the chance to sit under the teaching of the Word ourselves and be blessed and challenged as well. It is life-giving on a number of levels.

After much prayer, discussion, and planning, the elders have decided that sometime next year we will rearrange some of our roles on the pastoral team and have Mike Roop step into the Lead Pastor position. At the same time, I will step into an Associate Pastor role. I am excited for us to be at this place and for this opportunity for us as a church family. Many people don’t know that when the leadership at Creekside decided to go with our current pastoral team approach, the initial plan was for me to be in the lead role for two or three years while we found our new Lead Pastor. Once that new Lead Pastor was in place, I would step back into the role of an Associate Pastor. Well, that was twelve years ago, but who’s counting. So this is something we’ve been working on and looking forward to for quite a while now.

God has given each of the pastors at Creekside a variety of gifts. The elders and I believe this is the time for Mike to use his gifts as the lead for our team of pastors. As I said at the family meeting, the main reason I am excited about Mike serving in this role, however, isn’t his giftings but his humility and desire to grow and learn. It’s this combination of gifting and humility that makes me most excited to hand over the reins of the Lead Pastor job. More information will be forthcoming regarding timetables, and it’s our intention to share more of that at a church family meeting on October 3rd at 5 pm. Save the date.

As I said at the church family meeting, there is no one pushing for this or more excited about this change than me. I have envisioned for a while that as I entered this phase of my life, my ministry would focus more on shepherding and on supporting and coaching the next generation of pastors. This switch will allow me to do that while I'm also hopeful that it will allow me more time with my family, both with Kim and the kids as well as my extended family. I’m also hopeful to have a little more bandwidth for ministry opportunities in Hungary. But we’ll see what the Father has in store. My intention is to plan and dream a little and then be content with what He has in mind.  

Please be in prayer as we walk through this season. The reality is that in our 50+ year history, we have never done this. Our previous senior pastoral transitions have been challenging, and, if we’re honest, hurtful. It’s hard for me to express the depth of gratitude I have that this time the transition will be a joyful one. God has been faithful, and He will continue to be. This season is yet one more example of that faithfulness.