If your church is facing a period of transition of leadership, who you gonna call? Well, this week we talk to William Vanderbloemen, founder and president of Vanderbloemen Search Group that specializes in matching clergy with congregations. This is a fascinating look into an entrepreneurial niche market that supports churches during periods of pastoral succession. We discuss this business and Williamâ??s book about the topic of leadership transition, Next: Pastoral Succession that Works.
As is par for the course, our discussion begins with a bit of background about Mr. Vanderbloemen, who we learn was raised in a Presbyterian tradition in a small North Carolina town. While somewhat of a rebel spirit in college interested in business, he found himself drawn into philosophy, which then took him on a journey to Princeton Theological Seminary. We explore some of his time in the ministry, starting as an associate pastor and then moving down to Alabama to help rebuild a flagging congregation. He learned a great deal about reviving churches and also about transitioning leadership during his 15 years in the ministry, which also took him to run a large church in Houston. Tony probes those periods of transition, asking about how different churches found out about him, and what it was like to leave one church to go work at another. Having seen pastoral succession from the vantage point of the pews, Tony was curious to find out what it was like from the other side of the pulpit.
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