The 1994 Eureka! moment I previously wrote about in chapter 11, from which I redefined my personal mission from wanting to “succeed” to “helping God succeed,” laid the foundation for me to willingly return to pastoring in 1998, and to embrace the prophecy that had deflated me in 1990: “You’re a tugboat.” Several months into my first interim pastorate in Torrance, an insight into interim pastoring was followed by a Eureka! moment about the parallel between interim pastoring and being a tugboat. The insight I received was that interim pastoring is like the ministry of John the Baptist, whose theme of preaching was “Prepare the way for The Coming One!” I instantly realized that as interim pastor, I was doing similar John-the-Baptist-preparation-work, “prepare for the coming one (the next permanent pastor)!” On the heels of that insight, I had the Eureka! moment: “What I’m doing is like a tugboat: I’m escorting a large ship in and out of port to prepare for its next voyage.” What had deflated me in 1990, “You’re a tugboat,” now encouraged me as an interim pastor. I also realized that I had been a “successful” tugboat for the Tustin Vineyard: I had taken over a ship in distress, kept it from sinking, and steered it into port so its passengers could board a different ship. It now made sense to me: I was called to this pastoral role. I no longer felt like a failure, and embraced my calling to be a tugboat, which I did in nine additional interim pastorates until August, 2022. In each interim church, I would immerse myself in the ministries of the church, while praying for guidance during the first 4-5 months: “What changes should I focus on to prepare this church for its next pastor?” Repeatedly I would sense guidance from the Lord in answer to this prayer. God was very real to me in each interim church, and continued to give me great personal fulfillment as a tugboat pastor who is trying to help God succeed.
My first Eureka! moment as an interim pastor had come a few weeks earlier (before the Tugboat insight) in this Torrance interim pastorate. The church had five difficult staff problems waiting for me. Being new to interim pastoring, and new to American Baptist churches, it occurred to me that I should seek advice from an experienced American Baptist interim pastor. I met with the most experienced interim pastor in our region, who was doing his seventh interim church as I began my first. After I told him about my staff problems, he advised me, “Wield the ax!” As soon as those words had come out of his mouth, a contradicting thought crossed my mind, “Take a light touch.” I thanked the interim pastor for his time, then prayed about what seemed like contradictory advice I had received immediately in that thought, waiting for confirmation that what had gone through my mind was from the Lord. Two weeks later, during a time of prayer, this thought again crossed my mind: “Take a light touch.” So I did that instead of wielding the supervisory ax. I spent time with each staff member, attended their ministry events, and provided support. Over the next 8 months, I was gentle in taking on the staff conflict issues. One by one these staff conflicts resolved peacefully. In the process, I discerned that this church, under the surface, was divided around staff people. Had I been more aggressive in removing staff, that church would likely have been more seriously divided when the next permanent pastor came. Instead, every staff issue was resolved without division in the congregation. Three staff members resigned of their own volition after resolving their conflicts with other staff, for what they viewed as better opportunities in other area churches, and the church gave them celebratory send-off parties. The church had stronger unity when the next permanent pastor started his ministry 13 months later.
A second Eureka! moment happened when I was “interviewed” by the Board of another potential interim church in 2005. My “interview” followed other Board business, during which I was struck by the amount of conflict between Board members. There appeared to be two factions on the Board. Then, when it was time for the Board to interview me as a candidate to become the interim pastor, I was shocked when the Board chairman started the interview by introducing me as “The new interim pastor.” He then announced what my salary would be. I hadn’t been asked any questions, and there had been no interview of me. I hadn’t agreed to be the interim pastor. I saw consternation on the faces of some of the Board members, which I felt myself. I said to myself, “I’m saying no to this one. This is bizarre.” Then came the Eureka! moment when this thought crossed my mind: “I want you here.” This thought was accompanied by the unmistakable grace of the Lord, reassuring me that I was hearing from him. So I accepted the position, which was my 6th interim pastorate. There was significant conflict in the leadership of this church, which the Lord helped me to understand and bring to resolution before the next permanent pastor started three months later.
A third Eureka! moment happened during my eighth interim pastorate, a 113 year-old church. One week before my first sermon in January 2009, this surprising thought crossed my mind: “You should preach evangelistically.” That meant preaching to win people to faith in Christ. I had not done such preaching in any previous interim church. But I did in this church, with the result that 32 people gave their lives to Christ on Sunday mornings during the 9-month interim period. That caused the older generation to get excited. One woman in her 80’s exclaimed to me after someone came to faith in Christ during that day’s worship service: “This is how our church used to be 40 years ago. We’ve longed for this!” I researched the church’s history, and discovered that during the 1970s the church had grown from 400 to 1,200 weekly attendance under the leadership of a young pastor who preached evangelistically. I learned that he resigned after ten years and had been pastoring the same church in Arizona ever since. I called him to learn why he left his Southern California church when it was booming. He said that in 1983 he needed more authority in the church’s bylaws to help the church keep growing, so he brought the needed bylaws change to the congregation for a vote. He needed 67% approval from the congregation, but received only 60%. So he resigned. After he left in 1983, my interim church’s attendance dropped back down to 400 under its next pastor. When I arrived in 2009, the attendance was averaging about 300. After interviewing the former pastor, I continued praying for direction as to what I should do to help the church prepare for the coming permanent pastor. At the end of month four, a Eureka! moment happened when this thought came to me: “I’m turning the clock back to 1983.” About that time, the denomination’s regional leadership reported on the assessment they had done on our church at the end of my first month as the interim pastor. One of their recommendations was for a change in our bylaws to give the senior pastor more authority—almost identical to what didn’t pass in 1983. For the remaining five months of that interim church, I worked with the Board, key leaders and the congregation in preparing for the vote on the proposed change in bylaws. It turned out that my evangelistic preaching had caused the older generation, which had been present during the 1973-83 growth years, to give credibility to my leadership regarding changing the bylaws. The end result was a 98% yes vote on the proposed change in bylaws, followed by a 99% yes vote on the proposed new pastor who would only come if the bylaws change was passed. Once again, God had shown himself to me. Under its next pastor, that church started growing again. When I left that church in October, 2009, I had great sense of personal fulfillment!