Today I announced that Chad will be leaving staff at ExponentialChurch.tv at the end of January. If you’d like to hear my announcement of this news in today’s message, fast forward to the 26:20 mark. For Chad’s response fast forward to the 38:34 mark. Here are a couple of FAQ’s to help you process through the news of this…
Q. Where is he going?
A. Ironically enough to the same church that I left to come to Harrisburg. The Chambersburg First Church of God is continuing to see God move in amazing ways and as a result of that growth they have created a new position which Chad will be fulfilling.
Q. What will he be doing there?
A. Chad’s role will be to oversee all the Discipleship ministries of the church including, Sunday School, Wednesday night programs and Life Groups. There will be other roles in that area that he will also be covering so pray for him that he can handle it all.
Q. Why is he leaving?
A. Ultimately because it’s God’s will. Chad let me know last month that they had asked him if he would be willing to interview for the position. With my blessing, prayer and support, Chad did the interview and not surprisingly they offered him the position. From there it was a matter of he, Tammie and the kids praying and discussing what God might want from and for them. In the end, the decision was to accept the position.
Q. If he was willing to leave does that mean you wanted him to or that there is something going on between the two of you that caused him to want to leave?
A. No. My job as his boss and spiritual leader during a time like this is to pray with and for him and give my input. In our discussions I shared with him what I thought was a balanced slate of reasons to stay and reasons to go. We talked about what was best for Exponential, Chambersburg First, him personally, and his family. We also discussed the negatives to all those. The biggest issue though is what is best for the Kingdom of God overall? At the end of the day the answer was to move on to a new season of life.
As for our personal relationship, I can honestly say that I couldn’t have asked for a better pastoral partner these past 3 years. Getting Exponential up and running has been harder than either one of us thought. There have been times where we’ve wanted to quit but together we’ve kept each other sane. Oh sure, like in any relationship there have been days where we’d get frustrated with something the other did, but those issues would resolve in a day or 2 and honestly were few and far between. Chad and I became friends through all this, will remain friends and will continue working on projects together to advance the Kingdom in any way we can.
Q. Who at Exponential will handle Chad’s responsibilities?
A. Great question and one I’m still processing through. The initial answer is that this will be a great opportunity for many of you to step up and begin serving in new ways. No one person may be able to do all that Chad was doing but if everyone pitches in, we can do it together. Also, this transition is a natural time to re-evaluate how we’re doing all of our ministries. As a result over the coming month(s), I’ll be getting together with many of our key leaders to see what types of shifts we need to make at this time. I value your input, so please email me at gilbert@exponentialchurch.tv with thoughts or suggestions. If you’d prefer to speak in person, we can arrange that as well.
Q. When will Chad officially be leaving?
A. The last Sunday of January which is the 26th. In the meantime, make sure you get together with he and his family to let them know how much we appreciate all that they’ve done these past 3 years. And of course plan on being with us on the 26th as we corporately celebrate their life and ministry!
Thanks for being such an awesome group of people! I hope this blog post has answered some of your questions. If you have any others, please let me know. Remember the best is still yet to come!
May God bless both of you as continue to serve Him and follow His call.