Matt Steen has served the local church for over two decades as a youth pastor, church planter, and executive pastor. Originally from Baltimore, Matt currently lives in the Orlando, FL area with his wife, Theresa, and has a B.S. in Youth Ministry from Nyack College and an M.Div. and MBA from Baylor University.
Certified as an Urban Church Planter Coach by Redeemer City to City and as a StratOp facilitator by the Paterson Center, Matt has made a career of helping churches thrive through intentionality, clarity, and creating healthy cultures. He is convinced that a healthy team leads a healthy church with great chemistry, and loves partnering with churches through Chemistry Staffing to do great things for the Kingdom.
Matt joins Dale on today’s 95Podcast to discuss the subject of succession planning. As the average age of the American pastor continues to increase, churches must begin having conversations about who will lead the church in the future.
Links to Resources Mentioned or Related
- Website: Chemistry Staffing
- Email Matt
- Podcast: Keys To Successful Ministry Handoff (w/ Michael Moore) – Episode 260
- Link to NEW! Soul Care Essentials Online: 3-Session Video Series
- Link to NEW! Soul Care Essentials Cohort: 6 Weeks of Guided Conversations for Post-Conference Groups
- 95Network – Soul Care Essentials
- 95Network – Healthy Church Assessment
- Read Stalled: Hope and Help for Pastors Who Thought They’d Be There By Now
- Watch Podcast on YouTube
Key Takeaways
1) According to a recent Barna study, 16% of all pastors are under 40 years of age. The average age of America’s pastors is over 60.
2) Only 15% of churches have a written succession plan.
3) Our goal at Chemistry Staffing is to bring a “non-anxious atmosphere” into an extremely anxious time in the life of a church.
4) 4 Steps for a healthy succession plan: 1 – Make sure the succession plan is in writing. 2 – Pay for counseling for the exiting pastor and their family. 3 – Help the current pastor to develop a plan for “what’s next.” 4 – Once the pastor leaves, they need to stay away from the church they left for a minimum of 12 months.
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