The Only Thing Worse Than Dropping the Baton

[SMcK: my father was a track and field coach, the dropping of the baton was a constant concern for him. Runners practice these all the time. But it happens, and Mike Glenn, in his inimitable style, turns to this theme today for us.]

Several years ago, at the Beijing Olympics, both the USA men’s and women’s 4x100 relay teams were overwhelming favorites for gold medals in their events. Each of the runners, in their own rights, were world class athletes, if not world record holders in their individual events. When we measured runner against runner, team against team, the USA teams were better on every leg of the race. There was simply no way the USA wouldn’t pick up two gold medals in these events. We just couldn’t lose.

But we did. Not just one race, the USA lost both races.

Inexplicably, maddeningly, pull your hair out kind of “never going to get over this” moments, both the men’s and women’s teams dropped their batons. The seconds lost in the failed exchanges might as well have been hours. All the years of training, all of the miles of pain running to get ready for this event, all the dreams and hopes of an entire nation were destroyed by an aluminum tube that mockingly rolled on the track.

Passing the baton is a basic skill of running a relay. Runners spend hours learning how to hold the baton when they run. They’re taught how to pass the baton to the runner in front of them. They spend hours working on when to start and reach back for the baton, how to hold their hand open and then, how to firmly grasp the baton when the approaching runner places the baton in their hand.

Dropping a baton is the cardinal sin of relay running. If the baton is dropped or even bobbled, the race is lost.

As bad as dropping the baton is, I’ve discovered something worse in my time working with pastors and churches in Middle Tennessee. Since I’ve stepped away from my role as senior pastor, I’ve been working with churches, church plants and pastors and planters. I thought I would be spending most of my time working with churches who wanted to plant churches. Then, I discovered a major problem – a five alarm, DEFCON 1 kind of problem.

We don’t have enough pastors. There are several reasons for this. A number of pastors are retiring or leaving the ministry. COVID wiped out a lot of pastors. Many of our pastors are over 60 and will be retiring in the next few years. In most denominations, the number of pastors over 60 vastly outnumbers the number of pastors under 40. While seminaries will claim record enrollment, most of those students are second career students. Younger students don’t want to pastor local churches. They want to work as counselors and establish non-profits. Seminaries aren’t sending out enough pastors to meet the need.

Remember I said earlier I’ve found something worse than dropping a baton. Here it is:

Having no one to pass the baton to. Churches are quickly coming to a point that if they lose their pastor, they may not be able to find a pastor to replace the pastor who is leaving. I’m not exaggerating. I’m not being dramatic. This is very real. This crisis is now on our horizon. Soon, it will be in our sanctuaries. The church must act – dramatically and soon.

While the challenge seems overwhelming, we have to remember the church has been here before. When the early church was born, there were only a dozen or so qualified pastors. So, what did the church do? Pastors identified, trained, mentored and sent out other pastors. Moses trained Joshua. Elijah trained Elisha. Jesus trained the twelve and Paul trained Timothy and Titus.

So, what does the church in North America need to do? Same as the early church. Pastors need to understand half of their calling is to identify, train, mentor and send out the next generation of pastors. Where do we start?

In Matthew 9, Jesus is overcome with compassion as He looks over the crowds that were following him. He turned to His disciples and asked them to pray. “Pray to the Lord of the Harvest that He will send workers into His field.”

What should we do? First, we should pray…and pray a lot. This isn’t something we can control. This has to be a work of God in the hearts of those He’s calling. The only thing we can do is create a place open for the Spirit to work. Jesus told us there were things that could only be handled with much prayer. This is one of those things.

Second, be intentional about whom you disciple. Every pastor should be focused on discipling the next generation of leaders. Not just pastors, but elders, deacons, small group leaders and missionaries. This should be a major focus of every serving pastor. After all, this is the very reason Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus and Titus to Crete – to identify and develop future leaders. Just as Paul had poured into them, Timothy and Titus should pour themselves into the lives of future leaders within their churches.

Third, pastors should understand these relationships will be for life. Younger pastors should always know they have someone they can call when things get tough. Older pastors should remain in a mentoring and encouraging role from now on. Older generations are responsible for teaching the younger generations. This way, the chain is never broken.

As I have said before, I’m more excited now about the future of the church than I have been in a long time. Why? Because our culture is asking questions only Jesus can answer. Questions about meaning, hope, purpose and identity – all of these are Jesus questions. The church should be at its best right now.

While I’m confident of the church’s future, I’m just as convinced we’ll have to be doing church in a new way. This means new leaders…lots and lots of new leaders.

And we have to start training them now.

This essay was first posted in Scot McKnight’s newsletter.