Soooooo, about that "resignation" last summer...

This question came in recently; it's one I've been asked over and over again over the past year:

"Sooooo, why did you resign from your church last summer?
It looked like you were hitting it out of the park." 

I've been waiting to respond, asking God to give me the exact right words that would honor Him, His Church, and bring closure that inspires forward-movement of the Gospel.

Before I answer this honest question, let me share why I'm opening up now. 

 

Why Now?

Amber and I have tried to go above and beyond in not causing confusion or creating disruption within our previous church home.  This is why we haven't blogged or tweeted or messenger pigeoned anyone about these events in our lives.  What we've learned through this experience is that when the truth is suppressed, that is what actually causes confusion.

Two weeks ago I was in Phoenix for a national gathering of church leaders.  God spoke to me in a very real way - - He released me to share my heart.   1 John 4 tells us that God is love and that His adoration is fully expressed in Jesus Christ.  When the Father sees me, He sees His Son.  I haven't done anything to earn this love; I can only receive it as a gift.

Listen, I have a Master's degree from cemetary seminary.  I'm in my thirteenth year of full-time ministry.  I understand the Gospel in my mind.  But everytime life throws me a curve-ball, I get to understand the Gospel in my soul.  As Chuck Swindoll once said, "When God has an impossible task, He takes an impossible man and crushes him."  Crushing is always for our spiritual growth.  And I can say that this brutally crushing experience has deepened my faith to a greater depth than if I had not experienced it in the first place.

Our family grew in March.  When we brought our newborn home recently, I held her delicately in my arms, looked into her searching baby eyes, and knew at a vulnerable level that I loved her.  Deeply.  Tenderly.  In that moment, this father looked at his daughter and said, "I will always love you.  I will keep you safe.  You have nothing to fear in this life."

Bam.

This is how God the Father sees me in Christ: I am in His arms where His voice speaks to my soul: "I will always love you.  I will keep you safe.  You have nothing to fear in this life."  After reading that God is love in 1 John 4, we read this two verses later:

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear.

God is love and He casts out all fear.  When I live my life with anxiety, my root issue is unbelief.  When I trust the Lord in all things, I am growing as a follower of Jesus. 

The irony is that in what was to become my final message last July at our previous church home, I preached about becoming Fear-less.  Funny how God gave me that opportunity immediately thereafter!  Applying the Gospel to this area of my life is releasing me to share openly about our family's experience.  I've been re-writing these words over and over in my mind for many months, trying to share the honest-to-goodness truth, but showering my thoughts in a spirit of tremendous grace.  Please consider this my best shot.

 

Soooooo, why did you resign from your church last summer? 

I didn't. 

Well, I guess technically I did, but it wasn't my choice.

I know, crazy, huh?  Allow me to give some backstory: our family moved to Michigan a few years ago and we love this community and region.  As I have said throughout many sermons over the years, God called our family here to plant deep roots and to radically reach this region for Christ. 

During our time at our previous church home, we saw just that kind of fruit: 328 people received Christ, 135 public baptisms, and 168 went deeper in discipleship through church membership.  A year ago right now we were regularly hitting 700 in weekly attendance across three worship services.  Every number has a name, every name has a story, and every story matters to God!  Our entire family was happy, excited, and we even bought a new house here three months before this all went down.

So, what changed?  When a church experiences rapid growth, growing pains set in.  New believers who might look different on the outside and who are young in the faith on the inside require next-steps discipleship, which in turn requires changes in priorities as a church family. 

Unfortunately, we experienced a situation similar to what happened to Tullian Tchividjian when he took the helm of an older, traditional church, only our story ended differently.  The Reader's Digest version is this: Last summer I had two back surgeries.  During my absence, a decision was made by the board and just-hired executive pastor.  While I was excited that I had recovered enough to return back to work, their news came suddenly and without warning.  I was told that the board wanted us to separate and I was given a 15 minute deadline to agree (I only share this last detail to help clear up any lingering confusion - Amber and I don't want anyone thinking I had planned this out or that the Herrons just decided to just up and walk away abruptly from our church family).   As to the reason for the separation, the senior-most member of that board later wrote to us that they had decided that my philosophy of ministry was not the right fit.  The board wanted to take the church's vision in a completely different direction.  

How did receiving this abrupt news make us feel?  We're human.  Our entire family was hurt.  Deeply. 

We have tried connecting with the five who made this decision to seek gospel-centered understanding and closure; curiously we have only experienced silence.    

As time has gone by, anyone can observe that they have indeed taken the church's flavor and ministry philosophy in a completely different direction.  And that's ok. 

I agree that I would not have been a good fit for the philosophy and direction of things as they are now.  So our family is at peace with the board's decision. 

 

Silly Chatter

All this being said, we believe that how the decision was communicated could have been done differently to better reflect the Gospel.  With no goodbyes or closure for anyone, it created an information and relational vaccuum for everyone.  Proverbs 29:18 is true - in the absence of clarity, things fall apart.  When there's secrecy wrapped in abruptness, people try to fill in the gaps with rumors.

Now I've heard many rumors in my lifetime, the biggest being that Elvis faked his death, became a trucker, and retired to Kalamazoo.  Interesting rumor to entertain at parties, but no matter how many times it's been repeated over the years, that doesn't make the rumor true.

A pastor has to have tough skin and a soft heart.  Our family chose to ignore all the silly chatter but to always be willing to sit down and talk honestly with anyone who contacted us in a sincere spirit of grace and truth.  All of the gossip was false, and anyone who has taken the time to develop a personal relationship with our family saw through it immediately. 

We know that we will always be misunderstood by gossips, but that's the price of doing something truly significant - - in the Bible, reaching people far from God gets you in trouble with religious folk.  I'm more concerned about reaching the lost in my community than I am about being misunderstood by the religious folks.  

My commitment going forward is to speak about those who oppose my ministry in a forgiving manner, in a Christ-like manner.  I will, by God's grace, do my best to take the high road, to not disparage anybody, to operate in a posture of understanding.  

After all, we only have two options when someone hurts you:

1. Give them back what they gave you.
   
   
2. Give them back what God gave you.

 

 Moving Forward

As I've consistently preached from Day One, we are for every church and pastor (in fact, I did a whole message series about this in January of 2011 called UN1TED)! 

You will not hear us speak ill of other church leaders, nor will we engage with silly church-world critics.  Jesus is about building up His church; only the enemy seeks to tear people down.  

We deeply love our previous church home and are actively praying for God to bless them! 

The Gospel compels us to take the high road even when it hurts.    Taking the high road isn't always the easiest route. Yet it is the route where God receives the most glory.  Proverbs 19:11 says, "A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense." 

We are excited about moving forward toward seeing even more people experience new life in Christ.  We understand that it will take all different flavors of churches to reach all different flavors of people, and so we are excited to be able to offer one of those flavors that will be completely different from anything else in this region.  As I always say, we are not here to compete with other churches but to complete the Body of Christ!

Thank you for being part of our journey.  Our family appreciates your prayers and encouragement as we continue to make much of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Peace be with you.

 

Comments

[Mark Ricco]

Thanks for answering my question and, wow, thanks for having the guts to share and the integrity not to throw stones.

Sadly, I heard this kind of story over and over again in church world.

Thank goodness for the Gospel.

I already am plugged into a church I love and tithe to, but i'd love to give extra to your church plant. How can I do that?

[Jon]

Thanks for your kind words, Mark.

Appreciate your encouragment - - I spent weeks working on this post and had many friends walk through it with me to ensure it was God-glorifying and helped bring closure to a messy situation.

Ya, wow, we would be honored to receive your support! You can give online here: http://lifechurchmichigan.com/#/kickstart-a-new-church

Thank you and God bless!

[Kelly]

It didn't feel right when the announcement was made. Please know that many of your congregation were shocked and brokenhearted by the news - and we are BEYOND excited that God led you to start LifeChurch. It's going to be awesome.
Your family and ministry are always in my prayers :D

[Liz]

Jon - thanks so much for sharing your version... you know the gossip mill runs wild in any community. From someone who's been conflicted and confused... I appreciate hearing both sides. I pray that God blesses Life Church, no matter where my personal decision to worship may fall. Things definitely feel different when I attend Sunday mornings. Your approach drew me in, your messages were easy to understand, and I always appreciated that. Keep up the great work, God gave you an amazing gift!

[Jon]

Thank you for your encouragement and kindness, Kelly and Liz. Like we shared, we are not here to compete with the Body, but hopefully to complete the Body. God bless you.

[Jodi Wark Sakon]

So glad you shared and did it in such a way of not bashing anyone (even if they deserve it) I along with so many others can't wait to hear you preach again!!

[Kelly Clark]

It was worded perfectly, I think. The whole thing was so 'hush-hush' - I felt that it left people questioning your integrity - and that is not cool. Way to be an awesome example of Christ's love. I am SO looking forward to this fall!!

[Kelly Limberger]

This is amazing. Some people just don't get it. I truly believe that God only leads you to where you need to be in life. This was just apart of his plan. You've always been one of my favorite! Good luck to your future! God is with you! :)

[Jamie Wilson]

I just wanted to tell you how very proud I am to be your's and Amber's friend. Good for you. Anyone that knows your family, knows your good heart. Love you guys.

[Shelley Beedle]

We just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to get to know Amber and youself. Also,thank you for all the support and prayers thru our tough time.

[Stephanie Storey Sellers]

Your reply was very classy. I know I am your aunt, but I am impressed.

[Sharon Herron]

Read your reply today. We are thankful to God that you finally had this opportunity to share in a most mature and gracious manor the reason for your separation from the Colwood Church. We too love you and understand what you have gone through in this journey. You are continually in our thoughts and prayers. We feel so BLESSED to have such a wise and wonderful son & family! God bless you now and always! (Prov. 3:5-6). PS--Looking forward to meeting our new granddaughter!

[Josh Allen]

Hey bro- I wanted to say thanks for dealing with the subject in a classy way. You've done that not only here on your blog but also in our private conversations- says a lot about who you are and what God has done in you. I'm confident that God will bless you and Amber for how you've handled everything. Praying for God's healing touch on you and that he would give you your wildest dreams with LifeChurch. Much love- Josh