Podcast | Best Christian Workplaces

333: How to Successfully Transition into a Senior Pastor Role

Written by Best Christian Workplaces | April, 17 2023

Are you about to step into the top job in your organization? In this episode, you'll learn what to do in order to have a great start. Daniel Im is the lead pastor of Beulah Alliance Church in Edmonton, Canada and he stepped into the senior-pastor role, following a well-known pastor who had been in the role for 30 years. Listen in as Daniel and Al talk about succession, healthy communication, core values, diversity, self-awareness, and keys to build a fantastic team with outstanding talent.

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In this episode:

  • How the succession process Beulah Alliance unfolded (02:17)
  • Setting a maximum time frame, of two-year overlap, for the leadership transition (04:35)
  • Keith (previous pastor) really had built the Survey, the Engagement Survey, into the DNA of the staff at Beulah Alliance (05:29)
  • "The gift, really, that I inherited was this sense where the church was ready for a new vision. They were ready for a new direction. And the gift that he gave me in that was that I was able to steward that and be a part of leading that new direction when the church was ready for it." (07:38)
  • Working hard to clarify structure and to clarify people's roles (09:11)
  • How Daniel and his leadership team actually train and equip supervisors (13:01)
  • The opportunities and challenges Beulah Alliance sees as it leads a diverse body of Christ forward (18:46)
  • What Daniel would say to a pastor or another leader who is listening, and they just might be reluctant to actually ask in an anonymous survey their staff how they feel about their workplace. Maybe they're a little afraid of what they might learn. (24:23)
  • "We all have blind spots. And I don't think there's ever going to be a day where we're going to be completely self-aware as leaders, but are you at least growing toward that end?" (24:45)
  • What would Daniel's advice be to a new pastor who's just assumed leadership after a transition (30:17)

Read the Transcript

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