Time for A Second Act

Amidst the sad faces, the tears and the long dialogue the unspoken questions hung on the tips of everyone’s tongue. The beginning of the end was here. In an agonizing decision to step down from the pastorate and let another lead, my husband the great teacher, trainer, and educator was himself tearful as he explained to the church the proper protocol for his retiring from ministry. The discussion had already taken place with his family and the jurisdictional bishop. The thoughts and concerns of the members were taken into account. After all had been said and concerns were aired,one wise saint asks “What is it that you want to do? What is the Lord telling you about us, the church?" As the pastor bravely stood there trying to explain, the Lord allowed me to prophetically see some things. It would be alright. Dismantling a ministry was not what he wanted and he adjured the saints to stay to make the transition easier. What had happened, what went wrong, why was he having to step away from something he loved, the people the teaching? It’s not easy to say goodbye to loved ones, but in order for the next phase to take place saying goodbye to a pastorate was quite necessary. Two thoughts developed throughout the discussions. One) My husband had so often bragged on the saints; his members, about how strong they were in the word and just anybody would not be able to come and minister to them. They had to really bring it… Two) He knew that the members would not be there forever. Some of the members had come for edification, for training and would move on to the office in which the Lord would allow them to flourish. That had happened on several occasions throughout his pastorate. The revolving door swung wide. A number of reasons surfaced involving who would use that revolving door. But how do you tell your beloved you do not want to burden them, that there is a remedy. In all of the talk I myself wondered if the saints were seeing the bigger picture. We had been trained well and somewhere in the world the students were waiting for the teachers to show up. And now with his decision to retire as pastor my husband would be freeing the well trained members to go into any arena and exercise their gifts. So now the tears that I had only seen on one other occasion would fall, but in relief that he had done what the Lord had told him to do. And now it was time for his second act because God was not through with him yet. It’s so hard to say goodbye.