This is the fifth episode in a series of conversations I’m having with our leadership at Christ the King Lutheran Church, where I serve as pastor. I’ve been thinking seriously about retirement and what that might mean for me and for our congregation. I hope these conversations will help us to plan together for the transition from this current ministry to the ministry of the next pastor.

Our conversations are based on the book titled “NEXT: Pastoral Succession that Works.” . In today’s episode, I want to focus on chapter six, “Resigning ‘Young’ to Start Another Ministry - and does the outgoing pastor always need to leave town?”

You can read the transcript of all the episodes in this series as they become available at the Basin and Towel blog here: https://thebasinandtowel.wordpress.com/

• Zach Zehnder is author, program leader, and President of the Red Letter Challenge at https://redletterchallenge.com/; along with Chris Johnson, Zach cohosts the Red Letter Disciple podcast at https://redletterchallenge.com/red-letter-disciple-podcast/
• Mark Zehnder recently retired as the senior pastor of King of Kings Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska, and currently ministers at https://www.alwaysforwardministries.com/ to pastors, boards, staffs, and churches as they work through periods of leadership transition.

• The book “NEXT: Pastoral Succession that Works” by William Vanerbloemen and Warren Bird is available at Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Next-Pastoral-Succession-That-Works/dp/080100571X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=SF9EGP9KPD3&keywords=next+vanderbloemen+bird&qid=1681756932&sprefix=next+Vand%2Caps%2C97&sr=8-1

• You can c...