“I’ve Told All My Pastors to Leave”

[featured_image]This week I listened to a Catalyst Podcast (8/29/07) that included an interview with Francis Chan. Francis is pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California. He is also the president of Eternity Bible College and spends much of his time speaking to students around the country.

As I was driving my car and listening – I heard him say, “I’ve told all my pastors to leave–go start your own thing.”

I thought, “Wow! That’s amazing. Here’s a guy that is committed to sending out his staff to extend the kingdom of God.”

He continued, “When I release people, they are going to do so much more than under my guidance.”

What an empowering statement. Francis realizes that releasing leaders will produce a greater fruitfulness. His perspective is quite a contrast to the attitude of many pastors who want to hold on to both their leaders and people instead of sending them out.

The church is God’s sent people. We should continually be releasing leaders into the harvest!

As he talked about developing young leaders, Francis also observed, “I read the Bible and look at the church and it just doesn’t match up at all. And this is the first generation that is saying, ‘I refuse to live that way.'”

When you are committed to sending out your pastors, you have to be committed to raising up a new generation of leaders who will take the Bible seriously and seek to live out their faith.

Where do new pastors and new leaders come from? Many churches recruit and attract leaders from other churches. Jesus’ strategy was to raise leaders from the harvest to reach the harvest.

Imagine what would happen if more pastors were committed to raising up leaders and told their pastors to leave!

(Why not check out Francis Chan’s new book: Crazy Love or his video blog)