Five-year Check-in

From the very beginning of the church and starting with the very first Elder Ministry Team (EMT), Randy had a standing five-year check-in, where he and the EMT would openly share and communicate their desires to keep him in the role of leader teacher and directional leader of the church. Either one could recommend to the other that the time has come to see a change in the senior leadership of the church.

Year 20

It was during Randy’s five-year check-in at the 20-year mark of the church where he communicated to the Elder Ministry Team (EMT) that it was time to start a transition process for a new senior pastor. The EMT pressed in on Randy, asking what was causing him to want to leave the church at that time. Randy replied that he was not wanting to leave at this time, but that he would be in about 20 years, so he thought it was best to begin the planning and preparing for that transition now. Randy had always had it in the back of his head that 40 years was an appropriated timeframe for being Senior Pastor of a church.

Teaching Team

One of the first steps taken in preparation for the transition was to create a multi-person teaching team at Perimeter.  The purpose of the team was to create a pool of possible successors, as well as give the church more than one teaching "voice" over the next several years.  The hope was that the the multiple "voices" would minimize the sudden change in a single teaching voice environment. A teaching team was created and sustained even to this date.  Randy Pope started out with a clear majority of teaching reps on the team, but incrementally reduced that majority, over time, to a minority of less than 40% as his time to transition drew near.

Concentric Circles of Options

Over the 20-year process, the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) created five layers of strategic options that could potentially produce or bring into relationship a viable succession candidate:

Center Bullseye:  Nomination of a current Teaching Team member.

Next Circle Out:  Recruit from former Teaching Team members.

Next Circle Out:  Create a Church Planting Resident program and recruit from graduates.

Next Circle Out:  Start a Young Leader Teaching Series in the summer and develop relationships with potential future candidates.

Next Circle Out:  Resort to typical effort of searching beyond present relationships.

Transition of Executive Leadership Team (ELT)

Starting in 2017, the current Executive Leadership Team (ELT) members volunteered to transition their position at age 66 with an appointed next generation leader. Dan Case transitioned off and Jamey Short replaced him. Jeff Norris was added as a next generational leader. Bill Wood will transition in January 2020, followed by Gordon Moore midyear 2020. Chip Sweney will remain on the team with no immediate plans of transition.

Winter of 2018

Randy Pope announced to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and the Elder Ministry Team (EMT) that he felt it was time to announce and take the steps necessary to transition him from lead teacher and directional leader. Randy gave these three reasons as the primary factors for making the transition within this timeframe:

Next Stewardship Initiative:  Randy felt strongly that the next stewardship initiative (coming up in the fall of 2019) needed to have the vision and emphasis for the next leader, and not one who would transition out of it in the middle of that two-year ministry period.

Greatest IMPACT:  Realizing that his years to effectively serve in ministry were getting fewer, Randy wanted to do what he thought would have the greatest impact in the time remaining. He knew there were other great teachers who could support the teaching ministry of the church, but God has uniquely gifted him to have impact through envisioning and teaching other church leaders in the arena of life-on-life missional discipleship.

40 Years is a “good run”:  From the very beginning of his vision for planting a church, Randy had 40 years as a target length of time to lead and give direction to a church.