My time at Pecan Grove ended well. It was a long interim, lasting almost 20 months, but quite gratifying. The church called a new pastor and we left back in January. The hardest part in the entire interim was saying good bye. I shared with them at our last service together, that I would not return to fill the pulpit or speak with individual church members for about a year. I wanted them to have a good chance to bond with their new pastor. I also shared with them that I wouldn’t be coming back to perform any funerals or weddings. Mrs. Clark, an octogenarian that had served well on the Transition Team said “You mean if I die in the next year you wouldn’t do my funeral?” I had to tell her no, I would not. On our final Sunday, they thanked me and had a farewell reception. It was a good day, but a hard day.
A few weeks before we left, I was at a retreat with several other Intentional Interim ministers and got to know one gentleman who has served eight churches as an intentional interim pastor. I mentioned to him that our time of service at Pecan Grove Baptist was nearing an end and decided to call upon his experience leaving these churches. I asked him about strategies for leaving a church cleanly while minimizing the pain of saying good-bye (both to me and to them). He paused just a second and smiled. “O, you can’t minimize the pain. It ALWAYS hurts when you leave” he gently said.
And he was right. I shared with the church in my final message that my time of service with them had been THE most rewarding service of ministry in my entire life. And I meant it. They had called a wonderful pastor and have a very bright future. And after the thank you notes and gift cards, they presented me with their favorite gift of a lasting memory:
A Pecan tree.
