The Greatest Gift I Could Ever Give My Successor
Passing the Baton of Leadership
Yesterday, as our family began our journey across the country I got a call that my buddy Michael Lawver was officially voted in as the next youth pastor at Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle. I couldn’t be more pleased with his selection as my successor. In a future post I will share about how God orchastrated the entire transition, but let me just say it was an incredible series of events! A couple of weeks ago I introduced Michael to my adult leadership team and passed him the baton of youth ministry leadership. Coincidentally, a few days later at our church’s missions convention, my two successors, Phil Baker and Ron Braaten were at SGT, so I took the opportunity to take some photos of us passing the baton. The three of us together represented 28 years of youth ministry at our church. What a rarity!
My Little Girl’s Bible Club
Yesterday my daughter led the Bible Club she began for the last time. She started the club at the beginning of the school year, planned the topics to be discussed, wrote her own lessons and discussion guides, and made handouts for all of the participants. During the year about a dozen girls were a part of the club. Today as I eavesdropped on their club, I was so blessed to hear things like, “We have to do the right thing,” and, “So, how can we apply these things to our lives?”coming out of her mouth. She’s a very strong, gifted leader. We are so proud of her!
















