When John Perkins, the founder and president of Voice of Calvary, called my wife and me over to his home one afternoon in 1981, I had some idea of what he was going to say, but I wasn’t completely sure. In the last few years, John had made two or three overtures about resigning, but hadn’t carried through. I’m not sure anyone really expected him to.
This time, however, it was different.
“Lem,” he said, “I’m going to resign and I want you to think about becoming president of Voice of Calvary.”
Eleanor and I were poles apart in our reactions. She was scared, and I was excited. I was sure this was a chance to take a significant, nationally recognized community development ministry into the Promised Land. I was ready to fly; I had no intention of putting on the brakes. It took me only half a day to decide.
Eleanor, however, saw nothing but loose ends, problems, and entanglements. She figured I was buying a $100 ticket on the Titanic for $5 and boasting about the great deal I’d gotten.
As Eleanor and I talked and prayed, I tried to calm her misgivings. In my naivet, I didn’t think her concerns were that large. And in the end, Eleanor agreed to support me in the move.
Looking back, there was no real contemplation. And even more important, I didn’t consult any mentor who could have warned me of what happens when you try to fill the shoes of a beloved predecessor, not to mention trying to fill everyone else’s expectations.
Not every leader, of course, has gone through the trial of transition yet. Chances are, however, that before your ministry is through, you will go through at least one. I offer the lessons I’ve learned in hopes that they might help you through some rough days.
Taking the Heat
Whenever you follow a strong leader, you sometimes find yourself in a no-win situation. On virtually any major decision, if you choose one direction, people will accuse you of being the founder’s puppet. If you opt the other way, you can be accused of being disloyal to the dream.
Right before I became president, a highly controversial firing took place. I didn’t realize when I accepted the presidency how the fallout from that firing would affect me.
I was out of town when the firing took place. As Voice of Calvary’s executive director, I was the one who usually handled hiring and firing. When I returned, a number of staff members came to me and said, “Lem, you’ve got to tell John to hire this person back.”
As executive director, I was committed to carrying out the directives of the founder. I wasn’t going to undermine his leadership by bucking him publicly.
When I became president, the pressure to reinstate the individual continued. But again, I didn’t feel it was appropriate to directly countermand a decision John had made. Even today, I still run into people who refer to that incident and say, “You’re not a very compassionate leader. That person was run over by a freight train, and you could have helped, but you didn’t.”
In retrospect, I’ll admit I was scared. I don’t know whether I was afraid of losing my job or of failing in John’s eyes. Perhaps I should have taken a stand. But I felt my responsibility was to continue the direction we were going. There was obviously a temptation to proudly demonstrate my independence by reversing the previous decision, but I felt that was not appropriate. No decision I could have made would have been popular. My wife and I definitely felt the heat.
This incident and others that quickly arose made me realize I’d overlooked a simple biblical mandate when I accepted the new responsibilities: I hadn’t counted the cost. This is not to say I would have rejected the position had I fully counted it. I’m still glad I made the decision. But looking back, I see I could have spared my wife and myself a lot of emotional and spiritual anguish had I thought things through a little longer.
I wish now I’d made an honest and unabridged list of all the organizational snags and loose ends I’d be facing. Eleanor and I would have been better prepared mentally for the tensions, for instance, had we noted from the beginning even such minor things as these: though John would hold no official position in the organization, as founder his name would always be identified with the ministry, often more prominently than any current leader’s; people inside and outside the organization would continue to invoke his name even when his opinion on an issue was unknown.
All this taught me that when you approach such an opportunity, it pays to seek wise counsel-and to take it seriously when you get it. Your spouse, other family members, or mature advisers may be able to bring you down from Mount Sinai for a while and give you a more objective view of what you’re getting into. They’re not trying to dash your dreams or your hopes. They love you, and many times they know better than you what is best. In your first blush of enthusiasm, you may be sure you’ve been handed the chance to turn the world around for Jesus. Your spouse or your family know you’re good, but not that good.
The Inevitable Comparisons
Most of us won’t be as forceful or as charismatic as the previous leader. But we’ll still have to weather the comparisons (sometimes hurtful) that will surely come.
I was offered the position in May 1981, and the Voice of Calvary board meeting was in June. John strongly recommended that I become the next president. Even though some on the board felt the selection process-namely, the outgoing president’s making the decision-was not the best way to choose the new president, they did approve the recommendation.
Although I was John’s hand-picked successor, I found that following him, a powerful and beloved man, was no easy task.
I consider John Perkins a prophet. I love and admire him. He forged a new vision for black leadership and a new understanding in the evangelical church of what it means to wed social action and social justice with biblical evangelism and discipleship.
His influence started locally and then spread nationally and internationally. His vision of a racially reconciled biblical community has gained adherents throughout the world. Under his leadership, Voice of Calvary became an international study center for Christian community development. Its influence has spread to interracial communities in Australia and South Africa.
How do you follow an act like that? Well, for a while, I didn’t know if I would. I became so tired of hearing that I was not enough of a “people person,” that I needed to maintain a “higher profile.” After overhearing comments like “Lem just doesn’t have the same vision” or “I don’t know if Lem is going to catch on,” I also had moments of doubting whether I should have been there.
I was at the bottom of the ladder emotionally. You know the old saying, “When you run out of rope, tie a knot in the end and hang on”? That was about all I knew how to do.
During this time, the most important passage of Scripture to me was in Genesis 4, where the Lord comes to Cain, the less favored, and says, “Why is your countenance fallen? [Why are you depressed?] If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up, and if you do not do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is [to master] you, but you must master it.”
That passage taught me a great lesson during those dark days: Despite the temptations and the circumstances, I needed to be willing to put one foot in front of the other. God’s warnings to Cain, and Cain’s failure, were profitable warnings to me to take care not to stumble.
In the end, Cain wound up lashing out and destroying his brother. I didn’t want to do that I realized that was the “sin crouching at the door” during my dark periods of leadership. Once a leader begins lashing out, it is easier to do it again and again. And that’s a way to ensure failure in leadership.
I have great empathy now for the person who said, “Many times, taking just one more step is all anyone can do.” As a leader, you can’t always see what’s down the road. You might not want to know. Getting through the transitions and the comparisons and the accompanying depression is, most of the time, simply the result of taking one step at a time and doing what needs to be done.
The Urge to Purge
In any change of leaders, especially when the predecessor has had a long, strong tenure, the new leader finds his or her leadership tested. And during the first few months after John’s departure, I felt some people took advantage of me.
Some staff members made unilateral decisions about ministry operations, without consulting me, that they definitely would have run by John. I felt, rightly or wrongly, that they perceived me as untrustworthy.
There were times I felt the urge to retaliate for what I considered an unjust action, to purge the organization of those who weren’t eager to follow my direction.
But I’m glad now that I didn’t. If you retaliate, you may miss the fact that another person’s animosity is really God’s way of telling you the person needs to be loved through his or her frustration and hurt.
I coined a saying that helped me get through those days: “He who has the greatest truth, must have the greatest love, which is the greatest proof.” I reminded myself that anyone who thinks his truth is the higher truth can neither retaliate nor retreat from that truth if he hopes to have any credentials. Had I used my office to retaliate, I would have belied the very truth I asked others to accept.
A new leader, especially one who comes after a strong predecessor, will inevitably have to deal with being misunderstood. Reactions to you will be mixed, and retaliation won’t accomplish what you want it to.
I may have felt this more intensely than other new leaders because Voice of Calvary is not simply a place where people work and then go home to forget about their work. It’s a close community consisting of a ministry, a church, and house groups that meet regularly. That means the people you work with are also the people with whom you live and worship. Personal problems and disputes often have deeper and more serious ramifications.
I remember wishing I worked for IBM, where the corporate dynamic is different. There, or so I imagined, if some employees felt I had done them wrong, they could complain to their family members and sit around and get mad together. They could complain as loudly as they wanted, but the effect it would have on the structure and strength of IBM would be negligible.
But at Voice of Calvary (and in most churches), there are many overlapping reference points. If people feel they’ve been hurt or treated unjustly, those they tell when they go home are often fellow employees or church members with major responsibilities. Whatever the problem, it creates a tremendous ripple effect in our tight community of work, play, and fellowship. In any major decision, you never win “hands down” among people living in community.
I had to remind myself that when you follow a beloved leader, almost everyone, at least initially, is involved in the ministry because of that leader. They naturally feel a continued affection and loyalty.
I learned I needed to make no sudden moves, but instead to anticipate how the complex reactions would develop, in order to get my job done effectively.
Accepting Your Role
In every organization, there is a founder’s phase in which there is a lot of energy, excitement and charisma. The focus is on project initiation. If something is overlooked, it’s usually in the area of follow-through. The successor’s role is to contemplate the next steps and not begin projects unless there is some assurance they can be finished. When I finally understood this, it freed me to be a far more effective leader.
It took awhile to accept the fact that my role, as successor, is different from John’s role as founder. I needed to learn that charisma will carry an organization only so far. After that, it takes a good manager and organizer to keep things running.
In many ways, a second-generation leader has a tougher job than the founder. It’s my responsibility to take a vision and apply my organizational skills to make it run smoothly. We’re always open to charges of stifling the dream because we put an organizational and structural framework around it. We’re often viewed as constricting. But that’s because we have the conflicting responsibilities of motivating the workers, tending the organizational machinery, and charting the new frontiers for growth.
Voice of Calvary’s effectiveness for the first generation came from applying the gospel in new ways to specific community needs. Its effectiveness for the second generation will come from staying in touch with changing needs, trying new ways of meeting them, and blending those with the best aspects of the first generation.
I’ve had to learn to make decisions based on both the past and the future-to rely on the wisdom of past leadership when it’s necessary but to be astute enough to know when the past won’t work anymore. Keeping or redefining the vision and scope of an organization is the great challenge of the new leader. Past glories will fade, and new styles of ministry will need to be put in place in order to move forward.
Spiritually and emotionally, I’ve found this role taxing. Fortunately, I’m a sustainer and a plodder, and I’m durable-three traits that have become perhaps nay greatest assets.
Finding Emotional Support
Finally, I’ve learned you need to be prepared for an emotional roller coaster when you take over from a founder or a beloved leader. Not only do you suffer the inevitable misunderstandings and comparisons, but some people will, no doubt, leave because of the change.
One great fortune I have from the Lord is my wife, Eleanor, who, despite her hectic and frenzied schedule as a television newscaster, continually gives me her love and concern. We’ve had times of challenge, but we’ve seen each other through.
In addition, one of the best moves I made was to get myself a bailout group. Some people call it a support group, but I like the term bailout much better. It is probably a more accurate description of your condition during a transition.
This is a group of people I’ve learned over the years can be trusted; when they see my weaknesses, they don’t use them against me. They don’t expect an explanation from me every time we get together; I don’t have to convince them of my side of the story. I can let them see my discouragement, and they won’t worry that the ministry is coming apart. They accept me as I am and can provide meaningful and honest encouragement.
For instance, occasionally I have to make a difficult decision about personnel. Someone’s job must be changed, even terminated. When that happens, coworkers normally murmur, divide into factions, and chew on whatever the rumor mill produces. I’ve often wished I could tell everyone all the factors that went into the decision, but in many cases, some of the information must remain private.
Especially at times like that, I’ve appreciated my bailout group. They know the difference between agreement and loyalty. They don’t always agree with the decision I’ve made, but they’re willing to stick with me anyway. They’re “on my side” not because we always think alike, but because we’ve walked enough paths together that they know my commitment and motivation, and they’re willing to give me the benefit of the doubt.
I don’t mind taking my share of the arrows that come a leader’s direction. But I also deeply appreciate the member of my bailout group who once told me, “Lem, I might have handled things differently, but it’s your job to make that decision. I’m with you. I’m convinced you’re the leader God has for us at this time.”
My bailout group has become a reference point that gives perspective when conflicts and obstacles can so easily preoccupy me.
I’ve also taken comfort in the thought that many times God’s means of keeping a ministry’s vision close to himself is to prevent the leaders from getting too self-assured. Sometimes he gives them thorns in the flesh so that in weakness they can rejoice in the strength God has given. Other times, God may use a failure to prune back pride, or an uncertain future to encourage living by faith.
I’m becoming more and more convinced that God’s leader will never be allowed to get too comfortable. There will always be something coming undone, one more thing careening out of control. Those things continually remind me that God’s call to leadership is not a call to privilege and displays of power, but rather a call to servanthood and genuine humility.
Lem Tucker is president of Voice of Calvary Ministries in Jackson Mississippi.
Bill Chickering is a free-lance writer from Madison, Wisconsin.
WE’LL ALL BE REPLACED SOMEDAY
by John Perkins
One of the toughest but most essential functions of leaders is to prepare their followers for the day they will have to carry on under someone else.
None of us will last forever, at least not in any earthly ministry. Yet most of us want the ministry to continue, to be even more fruitful, after we’re gone. Every thoughtful leader prepares for the inevitable day when he or she will no longer be there.
During the 1970s when I was involved in community-development ministry in the Mississippi towns of Jackson and Mendenhall, I was very aware of the importance of developing leaders. I’ve always felt that leadership development is at the core of Christian discipleship, and especially so in the black community.
I’m equally convinced that groups function best when leadership arises from within the group rather than being imposed from outside.
I’ve seen churches and organizations go through major upheaval when the pastor or director leaves. They feel obligated to find someone who is similarly dynamic and forceful, but any time you go outside to find a leader, the new leader will rarely be exactly in line with the direction of the ministry. The comparisons between old and new are even more sharply defined. It takes time for the values, dreams, and personalities involved in the ministry to be fully understood by the new leader.
Another factor is at work here, too. The thrust of my ministry has been community. My vision has been to develop a group of people committed to racial reconciliation through the church, and to insist on their commitment to the cause. In some ways, it’s similar to a Catholic order-people who sense a calling to this ministry and are giving their lives to it.
This work can’t be “just a job.” You can’t pay people enough for them to dedicate their souls to a cause like this. So I felt it would be inappropriate for us to go outside, solicit resumes, and hire leadership. As a result, one of the things I concentrated on was developing a new generation of leaders from within the ministry.
By the time I left to begin another community-development work in California, the work in Mississippi was divided into ministries with separate boards and leadership structures, and there were several younger men who were qualified-in many ways more so than I-to lead the cause.
Lem Tucker became the head of Voice of Calvary Ministries in Jackson. Dolphus Weary and Artis Fletcher assumed leadership of Mendenhall Ministries. H. Spees started a similar ministry in New Hebron that is as strong as the others. And Jean Thomas went to Haiti and began a work there.
When I went to the Voice of Calvary board and recommended Lem to replace me, I didn’t sense any opposition. But even if I had, I would have made the same recommendation, because I feel so strongly about the effectiveness of home-grown leadership.
Lem had been with us since 1977 and was well qualified to head the organization. If the board had turned down Lem, I would have come back and nominated Dolphus or one of the others. But that wasn’t necessary, because the board understood the vision and supported these moves.
After the new leaders were in place, I consciously tried to remove myself from the various ministries so they could take their direction from the new leaders. At Voice of Calvary, I did remain on the board for one year, but I saw that it was clumsy for me to continue in even that indirect leadership role, so I resigned.
I’ve learned it’s hard, however, to completely dissociate from the ministry. There are natural feelings of affection and desire for continued fellowship, so I do make periodic visits to the various ministries. But I try to emphasize that Lem, Dolphus, Artis, H., and Jean are far better leaders than I am.
My strengths as a leader are in the areas of motivation and vision, causing people to believe in themselves and in what they’re doing. But I’m not a counselor. I don’t have patience. As a result, I sometimes run over people, and that’s a weakness.
I believe that ideas are stronger than situations, that ideals are the only force strong enough to overcome evil systems. Systems-whether communism, capitalism, racism, or any “ism”-can chew people up. When you’re fighting systems, sometimes individuals get hurt. In trying to build an entire community and develop racial reconciliation, I put the good of the vision over the good of any particular person. I admit that. That’s a part of myself I don’t always like.
Sometimes that causes pain-to others, but also to me. As someone once told me, “If a person gets caught going against your philosophy, you chew him up and spit him out.” That may be putting it too strongly, but I confess I have had to fire people and make unpopular decisions because individuals were not in line with the vision. Some of these people have been hurt. I really wish I could restore those individuals I’ve wounded.
My successors in the ministries in Mississippi do a much better job than I in blending concern for individuals with concern for the overall direction of the cause. And I think I’m getting better at it.
I don’t want to chew up anyone while building a better community for everyone. I’m trying to temper my idealism with more personal freedom for those in the community-freedom to act on their ideas-while remembering the good of the group at large. So I’m spending more time with staff people, listening to their dreams, seeing if we can’t incorporate those ideas into the ministry.
Since leaving Mississippi, I’ve begun another work in a different place, but the essential task is the same-developing leaders and developing a community where God’s presence is seen in the lifestyle of his people.
-John Perkins
Harambee Christian Family Center
Pasadena, California
Copyright © 1987 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
