A lesson learned from James Kennedy

In the news recently has been a conflict down at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida. The new pastor there, Tullian Tchividjian (grandson of Billy Graham, pictured on the left) has faced some opposition since taking over for the late James Kennedy earlier this year.

Six members of the church -- including Kennedy's daughter -- recently circulated a petition to have Tchividjian ousted as the pastor, an attempt which was unsuccessful after a church vote this past weekend. You can read Tchividjian's take on the whole thing here.

What really gripped me about this story is how poorly prepared it appears that Coral Ridge was for the departure of their pastor. I have to tread lightly, because I don't know many details in the church's history. What I do know is that Kennedy was the church's only pastor, serving there from the formation of the church in 1960 until his death in 2007.

Forty Seven years of service to one church is something that ought to be commended. But based on this recent conflict, it seems that Kennedy did very little in those forty seven years to prepare his flock for the time when he would no longer be their pastor.

It seems like a lot of the conflict at Coral Ridge is stemming from the fact that Tullian isn't doing some things the way Kennedy did. And I can't help but think that could have been avoided had Kennedy (pictured at right) been working closely with his future successor and preparing the Church for the time when he would have to say farewell (either because of death or a change in God's calling).

So in death, Dr. Kennedy has taught me a valuable lesson. I need to prepare my flock for the time that I'm dead, or called somewhere else. And one important way to do that is to identify and invest in the man who will succeed me.

It feels odd to do that at age 32. After all, I'm just getting started at my church. But I wonder if James Kennedy felt that way in 1960. If I'm not intentional in my thinking about it now, I could easily get to age 72 without ever doing a thing about it. For the sake of Joy Community Fellowship, I don't want to see that happen. I'm praying that my ministry will look like what Paul describes in 2 Timothy 2:2,

"What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."

Would you pray that I as a pastor and JCF as a church would faithfully live out the example of this verse?