Transition…Planning For Acceleration!
Kevin Berry

Pastor Kevin was born in Lansing and has attended Mount Hope Church with his family his entire life. Kevin felt God calling him into the ministry at the very young age of 15. At that time, he began his studies with Berean College and was applying for credentials with the Assemblies of God at the age of 16.

Kevin worked as a lay leader with the youth since he was in high school. In 1989, he became the assistant to the Youth Minister of Mount Hope Church and then served as Youth Minister from 1993-2007. He then served Pastor Dave Williams as the Executive Team Leader, overseeing the pastoral staff and departmental leaders of Mount Hope for five years before being appointed as Pastor of Mount Hope Church in February 2012. Click here to learn more about Mount Hope Church and Pastor Kevin.

While my wife Renee and I were visiting Washington DC in 2011 we came across this quote on the National Archive building:

“The heritage of the past is the seed that brings forth the harvest of the future.”

Knowing that I was only months away from becoming the Pastor, I stopped right there and gave thanks to God for the amazing heritage we have at Mount Hope Church. It’s a heritage rich in: Faith, leadership, vision, tenacity, and missions! I thanked God that at the age of 14, Pastor Dave Williams took me under his wing and began to mentor me and believe in me. He saw something in me that I didn’t even see in myself: potential. After pastoring Mount Hope Church for just over 30 years, he would soon pass the pastoral mantle to me. I was absolutely coming unglued with enthusiasm over this thought: this great heritage we have at Mount Hope Church is just the beginning of the harvest that is in our future!

Recently, I sat in a church—a great church. They are thriving today. But several years ago they went through a pastoral transition that resulted in significant numbers of people leaving. Both attendance and the church income took a serious hit. This has happened in some of the greatest churches across the nation. All too often even some of the greatest of leaders simply do not take leadership when it comes to their transition. Instead, the future of the church is left up to a pulpit committee.

I’ve heard it said that, It’s not the speed of the runners as much as the ability to make a smooth hand off that determines who wins or who loses a relay race. All the books I read about transition told me that I should expect to lose at least 15% of the people and have at least a 15% drop in finances. But Mount Hope Church has never been an average church, we worked hard to make a smooth hand off. A year later, we give the Lord praise because our finances actually increased, attendance is looking great and I’m meeting new people almost every week!

Whether you are looking to transition in the next few years or 30 years from now, it is my prayer that a few of the strategic steps we took during our transition at Mount Hope Church will be a blessing to you.

Strategic Step Number One: Have a Plan

Pastor Dave wisely took the initiative to put together a five-­‐year transition plan. This was new territory for Pastor Dave and for me, but together we worked out a timeline and a methodical approach to prepare for a seamless transition.

That plan started with Pastor Dave talking to the church board and executive pastoral staff. After much prayer, they unanimously agreed that Kevin Berry would be his successor. After that, my role at Mount Hope Church changed from youth pastor to executive team leader. From leading the church staff to filling in for Pastor Dave and preaching more on Sundays, this gave the staff and congregation an opportunity to get to know me more.

A year before the transition was to take place, Pastor Dave strategically began to communicate about the transition. With a cascading communications plan he was able to communicate to the early adopters before communicating to the entire congregation.

1. First, the announcement was made to the intercessory prayer partners. This gave them time to bathe the entire transition process in prayer.
2. Then Pastor Dave communicated with the leaders of the church.
3. A letter was then sent out to the membership of the church.
4. Finally, the transition was announced at a Sunday night service. It was a great “family” meeting.

In each group Pastor Dave masterfully communicated that this transition would be like a supernatural moment of acceleration for our church. He explained that we were not going to do what some had done and leave it up to a pulpit committee to decide who the next pastor should be. Instead we would be biblical and apostolic and he had prayerfully selected his successor. He made it clear that after prayer, both the staff and the board unanimously agreed that Kevin Berry would be the next pastor. He painted a beautiful picture of Kevin and Renee becoming “Dad and Mom” and Dave and Mary Jo becoming “Grandpa and Grandma” at Mount Hope Church. He and Mary Jo would not be leaving the church; Pastor Kevin asked that he stay on as Ambassador and that his wife, Mary Jo, would continue to lead the Global Prayer Center, at Mount Hope Church.

He also painted a great picture of the acceleration that would be part of this transition. When Moses passed the leadership baton to Joshua, the children of Israel quickly entered the Promised Land. When Elijah passed his mantle on, Elisha did twice as many miracles. When David passed his leadership to his son, Solomon exceeded David and became the wisest, wealthiest king ever. Peace reigned and nobody experienced lack in all Israel. And when Paul passed the baton to Timothy, he ended up establishing the largest first-century church in the world! So Pastor Dave encouraged the church family to get ready for lift off. I can’t imagine how dramatically different this transition could have been had it not been for the remarkable and strategic communication from Pastor Dave.

Strategic Step Number Two: Practice Honor

Throughout the five‐year transition process, Pastor Dave would periodically honor me from the pulpit. And every time I was given the opportunity to minister, I would consistently honor him. And here’s the thing… we still honor each other to this day. I practice honor by publicly talking about Pastor Dave. Just this last Sunday, I reminded our church family that we wouldn’t even be sitting in this beautiful church today had it not been for the faith, vision, and tenacity of Pastor Dave Williams! I gratefully acknowledge the impact he has had on my life personally as well as so many others around the world.

In the book, “The Elephant in the Boardroom – Speaking the Unspoken about Pastoral Transitions,” authors Carolyn Reese and J. Russell Crabtree point out that the first principle for a successful transition is: Honor thy Predecessor. The default succession plan for kings of the Old Testament was often assassination. They would obliterate the previous king and the fruit of his life. Instead of trying to obliterate the past we chose to celebrate the great legacy Pastor Dave has left. It’s a legacy that is worth celebrating and a foundation to continue to build on. In the first message I preached as pastor of Mount Hope Church, I talked about the principle of honor.

Honor is a key that opens the door to the miraculous!

That evening, we held what we called “The Honor Celebration.” The sanctuary was filled with friends from around the nation, but most importantly, the Mount Hope family and our network of daughter churches. Through a combination of special speakers and videos, we celebrated all the good that God has done and gave honor where honor was due. We lavished Pastor Dave and Mary Jo with love, appreciation and gifts. After the celebration, we had a limousine take Pastor Dave and Mary Jo to a nearby hotel for a reception with family and friends. There we were able to present Pastor Dave with the car of his dreams—a brand new Mercedes Benz.

While honor is nearly foreign to the culture around us, it is very much part of the culture of the Kingdom! We wanted to rightly thank this precious couple that have given so lavishly and sacrificially to us. I would not have wanted it any other way. While I know Pastor Dave was very uncomfortable that night, I also know that his heart was touched deeply!

Strategic Step Number Three: Make Sure The Current Staff Has Your Heart

Everything I read about pastoral transition encouraged me to hold on to the good staff members on our team. We had a GREAT team of staff members so I did my best to invest in them, spend time with them relationally, and involve them with the strategic plans of the church. More than six months before the transition took place I had a heart to heart talk with the associate pastors to make sure they were on board. I was so excited at the thought of starting out as pastor with such a dream team of leaders.

But much to my surprise, I received a resignation letter from a member of the pastoral staff who had been with us for over 20 years. Then a week later I received another letter that sounded very much the same as the first. Now a year after the transition, there are four pastors, all long‐term staff members that are no longer with us. This is something that I just didn’t see coming. But here’s what I have learned: when they go, it’s okay. God knows what He is doing. The Lord was building me a new dream team right before my eyes and His picks are always the best!

One of the mistakes I made was to try and hold onto a staff member when I was not convinced he had my heart. I tried to “make it work” and the long story short is, that it got ugly and it did not work. Lesson learned – if the staff does not have your heart, they have to go. You need a staff that celebrates you, not tolerates you.

Strategic Step Number Four: Have a Strong Vision For The Future

If you are following a strong visionary leader, people are used to hearing the vision -­‐ A vision that is compelling and worth throwing their lives into. And they are going to expect to hear the same from you.

A year before the transition was to take place, I began to seek God for His vision for the future of Mount Hope Church. I took detailed notes of pictures the Lord gave me; the dreams; and verses He put on my heart. Then I prayerfully put in writing both a vision and a plan that I was able to present to the board, intercessors, and staff.

During my first week as pastor, I took the board and the staff on a road trip. We first went to the site of Mount Hope Church where I grew up in as kid and Pastor Dave was my youth pastor. In this 100+ seat sanctuary we thanked God for the rich heritage of Mount Hope Church. None of the staff or board had ever been in that building and were blown away with gratitude to see where we started compared to where the Lord has brought us today. Then we drove to the next building, which Mount Hope Church had moved into back in the 70’s. It was there that Dave Williams became pastor and Mount Hope Church began to experience exponential growth! We concluded the road trip in our current sanctuary and praised God for our rich heritage. There I began casting vision for the future.

I reminded the board and staff of the quote I saw in Washington DC.

“The Heritage of the Past is the Seed that Brings Forth the Harvest of the Future.”

I explained that while I was filled with great memories of what God has done in the past. I don’t live my life out of my memory, but out of my imagination. Our biggest and brightest days are not the days behind us… but the days just in front of us. It was a holy moment of celebrating the past and looking with expectation to the harvest of our future!

I’m fully convinced that the celebration and success of the pastoral transition at Mount Hope Church came as a result of the Lord’s favor, much prayer, great leadership, and strategic planning. The steps that I’ve shared, are a few keys that the Lord used to supernaturally accelerate our church… and what He has done for us, He can do for you!