Musings from Sunday, April 3, 2016

We have been attending Church of the Open Door now for almost 3 years and we have been greatly blessed with the preaching ministry of Pastor Ed Underwood, the Lead Pastor. But, i was never more struck by his humanity, heart, wisdom and vision than i was at this morning's service. Pastor Ed who is only 66 years old announced that he has asked and the Elder Board has finally agreed to let him transition out from Lead Pastor to Assistant Pastor. He will be in charge of small groups, discipleship and community development--all of which are near and dear to his heart. 

what struck me most were his reasons for doing this at this point in his life. Pastor Ed has been pastor at COD for 20 years, but now believes that the leadership needs to be turned over to the younger generation. This is so opposite of a lot of leaders and especially pastors who hold so tightly to their positions to the point where they are no longer effective and their ideas are becoming outdated, or they refuse to accept ideas that might be different from their own ideas but are not necessarily bad and could even be better, but they can't let go (and let God!) because they either need to be in control or they feel that there is nothing else for them to do if they're not in command of the church/ organization. Yet, Pastor Ed believes that he needs to make way for a younger leader. He said, "the people [who are] living the dream [for the church] should be the ones to lead... Younger leaders live on the cusp of what God is doing in the world" and they should be given the opportunity to lead their church in the direction in which they feel the Lord is leading.

I especially love this statement from Pastor Ed: "Every pastor is an INTERIM pastor." Absolutely true! God will either replace you with someone else, take you out and put you in another church/location, or take you home."

Although I was sad to hear the announcement, i applaud and salute Pastor Ed for having the foresight and wisdom to do this. He gained even more of my respect when he made this announcement. I believe this is the first time I've seen this happen in a church I was attending. But, I KNOW that God will continue to use Pastor Ed mightily in the years to come. i am honored to have sat under his feet and learn from him. Thank you, Pastor Ed, for being such a great example to us in many ways!! God bless you even more!!