Last night on Twitter I saw on Twitter that Bethlehem Baptist Church is on the heels of naming John Pipers successor. The reason this is such a big deal is two fold. First, the ministry of Bethlehem Baptist Church is enormous and wide reaching. The person that replaces Piper must be able to carry that load. Secondly, it is rare that you see a successor come in that is approved by both the leadership of the church and the current pastor. To many times churches and pastor spilt on bad terms and it hurts the church.
It is good to see that a church like Bethlehem Baptist Church is showing a great example of how to do this in a healthy and thought out fashion. It will hopefully act as an example for other mega church pastors to look too. Churches like The Village Church, Mars Hill Church and Elevation Church will hopefully take this to heart as they look ahead. Non of these Jesus are even close to having a successor take over, but as John Piper stated in his blog he has been thinking about this for a very long time.
To do succession well it takes time, patients, prayer, fasting and a great leadership team. This will allow for the church to continue to grow and spread the good news of Jesus.
Here are some resources of John Piper:
1) Desiring God (Book) by John Piper
2) Desiring God (Website)
Pastor Mike Moore 