Alley-Oop: Keys To Pastoral Succession

By Walter F Harvey and Kenneth Lock

This book will help pastors, church boards and congregations through pastoral succession. An alley-oop is a perfect illustration of making a successful pass in pastoral leadership. It is my prayer that after reading this book, the predecessor and successor can both finish strong. Thus, the organization can continue its mission-scoring and winnin

• Language: English
• Publisher: Walter Harvey Ministries
• Release date: Jan 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985518313

Book preview

Foreword

Bishop Walter Harvey is a nationally respected Pastor and Leader. He is widely known for his seasoned wisdom and experience in ministry. He has become a personal friend, mentor and advisor to me in my ministry.

As a Pastor in the NBA and Chaplain for the Milwaukee Bucks, I’m a basketball fanatic. There is something about a team being completely synchronized that shows a different level basketball IQ. The sport is most beautiful when the players learn to work together. The alley hoop is the essence of just that togetherness. It requires both players flow in complete harmony to ensure it’s success. There could not be a better analogy for ministry succession.

This book has added extreme value to my life personally as a pastor who is the byproduct of ministry succession. This book helps highlight the areas in my journey that were extremely foggy due to lack of comprehensive understanding, as well as areas that I didn’t know needed attention. It has given me greater clarity in ways to better structure our ministry and leadership team to plan for seamless succession in our church’s future. 

There are many reasons why succession plans need to be carefully thought out. This book fills the critical void in ministry succession planning. For many, ministry succession has been relegated to simply replacing a deceased pastor, which robs the ministry and the senior pastor of the joy of succession. For a church to grow and thrive beyond it’s birthing generation, it has to have a successful plan for the transitioning of the predecessor and the positioning of the successor. The witty analogies and references to the game of basketball help paint a seamless vision to help pastors plan for those who will come after them.

Bishop Walter Harvey deals with the critical need to have a new game plan as you are transitioning ministry into a successor’s hands. Succession can never truly be successful without the realization that the game plan for the predecessor will never be the game plan for the successor. New leaders should always mean new vision and plans. This requires the Trust factor between both players to be the strongest sentiment shared. The point guard has to know how to put the big man in the best position to catch the alley oop and trust that the big man will be there. The big man has to know exactly when to jump and trust that the point guard will pass the ball at the right time.

Kenneth Lock II, Pastor and NBA Chaplain

Introduction

Few things arouse a crowd of basketball fans like an alley-oop. An alley-oop play is when an offensive player passes the ball near the basket to a teammate who jumps, catches the ball in midair, and slam dunks it for a score before he touches the ground.  

The artistry of the alley-oop has been painted on the canvas of basketball since dunking was allowed in the game. The artistic passes of Scottie Pippen to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant to Shaquille O'Neal, Jason Kidd to Vince Carter, Chris Paul to Blake Griffin, and John Stockton to Karl Malone are what thrills the crowd. The alley-oop is what defeats an opponent and fills the seats of stadiums. 

Pastoral succession is the process of transferring the leadership, ownership, and authority from one directional leader to another. (Ruch, Nathaniel (2018), Preparing the receiver of the baton in the succession narrative, Pro Quest Dissertations Publishing, Minneapolis, Minnesota)

I wrote this book to help pastors, potential pastors, families, church leaders, and congregations through pastoral succession. An alley-oop is a perfect illustration of making a successful pass in pastoral leadership. It is my prayer that after reading this book, the predecessor and successor can both finish strong. Together they can score a slam dunk for the kingdom of God, causing those in the church leadership and congregation to give an ovation, standing to their feet, cheering and in awe after the slam dunk. Thus, the organization can continue its mission—scoring and winning. 

In Alley-Oop, I share proven principles of the pastoral succession process. A church traveling down this road of pastoral transfer will often feel vulnerable and uncertain. That's understandable; it's risky. Prayerfully, this book becomes a place to turn for suggestions for a solid strategic plan. Within these pages are stories from all parties involved, practical guidance, biblical wisdom, and encouragement.

Please join me in praying for smooth pastoral transitions in our churches. May those who are in positions to pass the ball and those receiving it move together in harmony. May they and each congregation move with a keen sense of timing, unity, and honor. May it result in the body of Christ becoming healthier for generations to come. I know that it will if we prepare for succession.

Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Behold, the days approach when you must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of meeting, that I may inaugurate him.' So, Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of meeting (Deuteronomy 31:1).

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The Decision

The greatest challenge in leadership is not attaining it but releasing it. The ultimate measure of your leadership success is what happens to the organization when you leave it. (Munroe, Myles, Succession:  The greatest leadership failure, accessed October 3, 2021, #drmylesmunroe #mylesmunroe, March 15, 2020, Munroe Global)

LeBron haters remember The Decision. In 2010, the Cleveland Cavaliers took his talents to South Beach and the Miami Heat. He won two championships with the Heat. He later returned to Cleveland and led the Cavaliers to an NBA championship in 2016. However, in 2018, LeBron decided to leave again, signing a free-agent contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. 

In 2017, the year before LeBron's arrival, the Lakers drafted Lonzo Ball, a point guard from the UCLA Bruins. Lonzo had a stellar college basketball career. He was a dynamic point guard with remarkable passing ability, but at best, his outside jump shot was hit or miss. 

Long story short, when LeBron James joined the Lakers, the team had a dilemma. The Lakers now had two-point guards. One of LeBron's decisions to shift to the Lakers was to move from a dominant scorer to a passer. The physical punishment upon his body over a long career weighed heavily. As a result, Lonzo Ball became expendable and tradable. LeBron knew that as the team's primary ball-handler, he needed additional offensively skilled and younger athletes. He needed someone to pass the ball to, finish successfully, and score. In 2019, the Los Angeles Lakers traded Lonzo and a bunch of other players to the New Orleans Pelicans for the young superstar Anthony Davis. 

I can relate to LeBron James. In 1992 I joined the Parklawn Assembly of God church staff in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Youth Pastor at age 32. I had seven years of prior ministry as a non-salaried youth pastor at Northside Church of God. In 2020, I transitioned out as the Lead pastor after 35 years of pastoral work. My skills increased over the years, but my stamina for the daily leadership requirements was decreasing. In other words, the grace to serve in that role was lifting, and a new passion was emerging within me.

I shifted my pastoral leadership role from the team's leading scorer to a passer. Like LeBron, I came to some conclusions and made a bold decision. At age 50, I said to myself, A time is coming when I will need to pass the ball of leadership and shift from a producer to a reproducer. So, I began praying, Lord, don't let me stay too long, and Lord, don't let me leave too early. 

As a pastor, I care about my flock like a faithful shepherd. Leaving too early could mean leaving the sheep in harm's way. Jesus loved His sheep, too. He knew that one day it would be time to pass the church's leadership to His disciples. If He departed too early, the disciples might not have adequate preparation. On the other hand, if the shepherd stays too long, it can result in the sheep not getting the best care possible. I decided that if I remained in the lead pastor role after age 6O, I would miss God's kairos moment—His specific moment in time for me. 

That kairos moment to pass the leadership ball to my successor came at the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. COVID revealed the church's specific, opportune time for me to transition and to install my successor. That month I preached my last message as lead pastor. A few days after, the governor ordered a lockdown on public gatherings. The following Sunday, Pastor Marcus Arrington, my successor, had to conduct his first sermon as lead pastor on the Internet. 

I prepared him in advance and knew for years prior that he could successfully lead the church, so I set him up for the alley-oop. He leaped into the air, caught it, and slammed dunked it into the basket. Our families, the church administrative board, the congregation, and the community applauded. Both of us are flourishing in our relationship and present roles. 

God knows what He will do, if we are willing to trust Him and step out on faith.

In the last ten years of my pastorate, I kept my eyes open for a successor. I knew my position would not last forever. I desired a smooth transition. I wanted to pour my life experiences into another individual. I also prepared myself to step into another position in ministry. I knew what additional kingdom service I wanted to provide beyond the local church and lead pastor.

I began meeting with the church leaders, carving out a plan, and putting together a