Welcome

As I am sure most of you are aware, Tom Trask announced his resignation last week effective as of the next General Council in just a few short weeks. I feel this is an important moment in the history of our fellowship. We have a rare opportunity to take our unique Pentecostal heritage into the next generation.

Many of us on the frontlines of ministry have been doing this already. Experimenting with new discipleship strategies, meeting venues, church models, and creative outreach to our cities. In order for this fellowship to survive it is vital that the leadership of the next generation recognize these efforts and do everything they can to structure the fellowship to support, encourage, and promote their continuation both in the US and around the world.

In order to ensure that the best leaders are chosen for this task, I think it is important that the emerging generation knows who they are. I grew up in the Assemblies of God and went to an AG bible college, but I’m not a PK or an MK so I am not as well “connected” as others may be. I am limited by my geography and my ability to interact with other ministers and missionaries who all have unique and important perspectives on the future of this movement.

So I have decided to start a blog where AG ministers can discuss some of the characteristics, experiences, and values needed in the next generation of AG leadership. There will be a number of authors who post along with me, but the real “meat” of the site will be in the comments section where any minister, from anywhere in the world, can offer their insight.

I was recently in Springfield and I asked the general secretary George Wood, “Why don’t we have a nomination process, so that people like me can take some time before general council to get to know 10 – 15 candidates?” His answer was that it would make the process to “political” and besides the “system hasn’t let us down yet.” Well, I honestly believe there is some truth in that, however, I visited the general council website today and looked at the preceding leadership conference. I was able to retrieve more information about each of the presenters than I will probably know about many of the top vote-getters in August.

Our churches don’t choose their pastors without extensive background checks, interviews, board meetings, and much prayerful consideration over each of the candidates. I don’t believe the leadership of the general council should be any different.

So I am proposing that as many ministers as possible use this sight as a “senior pastor search committee.” The first posts will be geared towards a general discussion on what the ideal persons would look like. Questions like, “What are the most important issues facing the AG in the next 5 – 10 years?” and “What abilities would the ideal candidate need to possess in order to navigate the AG during that time?”

Hopefully we will have time to narrow it down to some names as general council (very quickly) approaches.

I really do not want this to become a place for people to just vent frustrations or argue back and forth. As Mark McGuire so aptly put it before the congressional committee, “I’m not here to talk about the past, but about the future.”

It is my prayerful hope that this becomes a fruitful dialogue between ministry colleagues as well as a place where young ministers, who are not as familiar with the names and faces of the AG, can learn about some potential candidates and make educated decisions next month.