The Leadership Factory

Most of you know by now that after a wonderful three and half years with two churches on the Central Coast of California (Mission Street Church, Goleta Presbyterian Church), in the Santa Barbara Presbytery, that Star and I and the family have been called to be the next senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Burlingame, in the Bay Area, near San Francisco.  Our last Sunday at Goleta will be Nov. 26, and our first Sunday in Burlingame will be the next weekend on Dec. 3.  We will always be thankful for our friends and experiences on the Central Coast, during this recuperative time in our lives, and we will never forget the kindness and love that we experienced here.

Some have asked why we decided to accept the new call in Burlingame.  The short answer is because God called us there.  The longer answer, and the one I want to reflect on in this blogpost, is that First Pres. Burlingame is one of the greatest church...

Leadership Factories

that I have ever known.

All churches have unique and special cultures.  And the unique cultures of specific churches determine what kinds of outcomes those churches have.  For example, Highlands Church, a church that my brother Jamie and I started in Paso Robles, is a uniquely capable outreach (evangelism) machine.  No church that I know of (in the PC USA) is more welcoming of outsiders to the faith, and consistently works to reach out to them, than Highlands.  Goleta Presbyterian, where I have served for the past 1.5 years is particularly capable and being a "safe place" for people of all theological backgrounds to come and worship God.  In this way, Goleta has the wonderful quality of never judging people who come to church.  People from all faith backgrounds are welcome there (and it must be stated that this is a very good thing).  Perhaps you might reflect for a moment on what the uniquely special culture of the church that you attend is.

What is the uniquely special culture of First Pres. Burlingame?  It produces great leaders!  Some of the finest pastors I know, people who are mentors of mine and that I look up to, have come from First Pres. Burlingame.  Dan Meyer, who was recently rated as one of the best preachers of his generation, and now serves a church of 6,000+ members near Chicago in Illinois, served as an Associate Pastor at Burlingame.  Steve Schibsted, who is now serving as the Interim Pastor of First Pres. Berkeley, is one of the best turnaround pastors I have ever known.  Steve turned First Pres. Chico around from a struggling 200 person church to a bourgeoning city center church.  Steve served at Burlingame as an Associate pastor.  Jeannie Cavender, who is a Commissioned Lay Pastor at Goleta Pres., is one of the best congregational prayers I have ever met.  Jeannie grew up at First Pres. Burlingame.  Tom Gillespie, who served as First Pres. Burlingame's third pastor, went on to become the President of Princeton Seminary.  Under Tom's leadership, the seminary was able to develop the largest financial endowment per-capita of any other institution of higher learning, at that time.  You get the picture.  First Pres. Burlingame is and has always been a...

Leadership Factory

So, why is it important for me to be a part of an institution like Burlingame, that is so capable at producing great leaders? Well, in short, the world needs a brand new crop of great church leaders.  Perhaps like no other time in human history has the gap between the world's needs and the kinds of leaders that the Christian church is producing been wider.  And, in my opinion, for whatever reason, seminaries, churches, and other institutions of higher learning just aren't producing the kinds of leaders today that will be required to meet the world's needs going forward.  It is not a statement of hyperbole to say that nearly an entire generation of millennials, and post millennials (the so called "i-generation") are now not only saying "no" to church, they are saying "no" to God.  Things have to change!  So, I am excited to be a part of a church that will help to make those kinds of decisions, and to mold those kinds of leaders.

Secondly, what I have been most proud of in my ministry, up to this point, are the leaders that God has allowed me to help to develop and mold in the churches that I have served.  To create a list of these great leaders would take up an entire blog post of its own, but a short list would include: Mickey Fenn (pastor), Katy Griffin (pastor), James Baird (pastor), and Joe Baugh (worship leader).  Again, this list is not exhaustive by any means, and I don't take credit for their innate leadership gifts, but it does reflect some of what I am proud of in my ministry.

The last reason that I am excited about working for a church Leadership Factory, like Burlingame, is because, let's face it, I'm not growing any younger (:-). At 45, I figure that I have about another 20 years to help make an impact for the kingdom.  That's not to say that God won't be able to use me at 65 for some other great purpose for the kingdom, but that after a lot of prayer and discernment I have decided that this is the best use of my gift set and the time that I have left.

So, if you are a great leader and want to become even better one.  Or you want to learn some new leadership gifts, or you just feel that God might be calling you to something different than what you are doing right now, I want to welcome you to the First Presbyterian Church of Burlingame.  Because it nothing less than a...

Leadership Factory

All For Now,

GB