This is a cautionary tale.

I remember the exact moment things went wrong. Before the church vote on my installation as pastor I stood before the people and suggested they postpone things a few weeks. “You should wait on this,” I said. “Get to know me better—be sure.” One of the deacons smiled at me, waving off my caution, “We trust Scott,” he said, referring to the church’s senior pastor who’d recruited me as his co-pastor, “don’t worry about it.” And that’s the lesson, pastors: the first time the congregation waves you off, disregards your teaching, your leadership, start packing your bags. It’s not going to work. Add in a pastor who says he wants a partner but then proceeds to incessantly and openly criticize every single solitary thing you do up to and including, literally, how you change a light bulb, and the stage is set for struggle and confusion. Which, at the end of the day, was ultimately all we had.

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