Gracefully Passing the Baton by George Barna

Gracefully Passing the Baton by George Barna

Hey, fellow Baby Boomers. Can we talk?

For many years, we have sweated, argued, fought, manipulated, analyzed, partnered, prayed and strategized to get our own way. We wanted the nation’s values to reflect our own. We wanted to have our fair share (or more) of the decision-making authority. We wiggled our way into key positions as soon as possible. After a period in which we said the system was the problem, we took over the system. Today, we are the system, and there are two generations following us who see that as a serious issue.

For whatever reasons He may have, God has pretty much granted our desires. We have wrestled control of the levers of power and authority away from our predecessors earlier than usual and have wielded that power with more glee than grace. When you examine the ranks of the nation’s corner offices, you find Boomers dominating the positions of CEO, COO, CFO, board chairmen, and corporate president. We have held that sway for the better part of the last decade. The only positions we have largely abdicated are CIO and CTO – the top-dog information and technology posts that rightfully belong to Busters. After all, they understand the digital revolution – we just figure out how to make money off it.

Even within the local church, Boomers rule the roost. Today, 61% of Protestant Senior Pastors are from our generation. Among the current lay leaders, 58% are Boomers. And if money talks, then we have the floor: 50% of the money given to churches last year came out of the pockets of Boomers. (That’s more than double the amount given by any other generation.)

Unfortunately, we are not good at sharing. If we are the richest generation the world has ever encountered, we are also its most selfish. And we are driven by the one value that defines us and on which we are willing to squander our money: power. We believe so deeply in our decision-making capacity, and we enjoy the control and perks of calling the shots so much, that we have no intention of relinquishing that power, regardless of traditions, expectations, reason or future interests.

If you think America’s war against al-Qaeda is a tough, uphill battle, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Take a look at the transition of power that is – well, should be – happening within churches.

Here’s the bottom line: our generation’s time on the throne is quickly coming to an end. In 2011 the first Boomer will reach age 65. By 2015, 15 million of us will be 65-plus; by 2020, 31 million; by 2025, the U.S. will harbor a mid-sized nation within its borders of 65-plus Boomers (an estimated 48 million).

If all went according to plan, we’d be hard at work implementing the world’s most sophisticated and superbly executed transition plan to install the new strata of leaders. We are brilliant strategists and tacticians – just ask us. No generation has ever risen to the heights of excellence that we have, when we put our minds to it. The Builders were a can-do, get-it-done generation. But the Boomers are the ultimate take-no-prisoners generation when it comes to shaping society – and, in some cases, the world.

But where is that transition plan? Who is working it to perfection? When are we planning to hand over the keys to the kingdoms we have built these last several decades? Who are the successors we are preparing to stand on our shoulders and build on the foundations we have laid – as our fathers did with us?

You’d think that since we are the richest generation in world history, and we have acquired more toys, amenities, comforts, security mechanism and pleasure options than we can even quantify, we’d be excited about helping our children to follow in our footsteps.

It makes sense. But it’s not happening.

The sticking point is our core value: power. We love power. We live for power. Power lunches, power ties, power suits, power offices, power titles, power cars, power networks. Whether it is because of an unhealthy desire for control, a reasonable concern about maintaining quality, a sense of exhilaration received from making pressure-packed, life-changing decisions or due to other motivations, Boomers revel in power. The sad result is that most Boomers – even those in the pastorate or in voluntary, lay-leadership positions in churches – have no intention of lovingly handing the baton to Baby Busters.

In self-defense, we may point out that Busters are not poised to lead effectively. They whine and they lack the ferocious work ethic that allowed us to reign. They are not as good at analysis and prescription. They lack the vision to see beyond incremental gains and thus fail to motivate people to pursue grand dreams. They refuse to sacrifice their own resources to make the kill. Often, they don’t even respect the notion, much less position, of leadership.

And how many of us have tried to mentor them, only to experience their tepid commitment or an outright rejection of our efforts because they don’t like our values or tactics? When we have tried to frame reality for them, they waved their postmodern views in our modern faces.

However, this is more rationalizing than wise, strategic, fruitful, biblical thinking. Busters are not the perfect successors we wish they were – just as we were not the perfect successors to our accomplished, world-changing Builder predecessors. My advice to us: get over it.

So here’s what I see coming down the line. Conflict between the generations over position and authority. Widespread Buster flight from the institutions and movements we have labored for so long to build up. Classic damage control by Boomers, positioning us as the saviors compensating for a younger generation of irreverent and incompetent wanna-be’s. And, ultimately, the further dilapidation (and, in some cases, collapse) of the local church as we know it today. There are many churches where this scenario is already staging Act 1, Scene 1.

There are four things that we probably need to do regarding the integration of Busters (and even some of the younger Mosaics) into the positions of power and authority within our religious institutions.

First, Boomers have to graciously and joyously let go of the reigns. We have had our chance and we made the best of it. It was a privilege to lead God’s people and to challenge society to join Him in His ways, but it was a privilege granted, not earned, and which now rightfully must be passed on to the next generation.

If we can objectively examine the big picture we will realize that our efforts cannot bear the maximum return on our investment until we enable those who follow us to embrace and enhance what we developed.

As self-absorbed people, we struggle to acknowledge that the Church – and, for that matter, life – is not about us. The purpose of our leadership is not to magnify self but to be used by God in the furtherance of His kingdom. Insistence upon continued control is a clear reflection that we do not understand God’s purposes for us, and that we have misled the community of believers. As an act of Christian stewardship it is our responsibility to pass on the baton with grace, love, hope, excitement and joy. This is not a “sacrifice” on our part: it was God who allowed us to lead, for a season, and it is His prerogative to usher in a new cadre of leaders to pick up where we left off.

Second, let’s use our world-class giftedness to create a plan for the transition. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of seeing weak-kneed, dump-and-run transitions where the Boomer arrogantly and self-righteously leaves without setting the table for the Buster who follows. If people take their cues from leaders, what message does such behavior send? Besides, Boomers have achieved numerous breakthroughs during our tenure by planning our actions and carefully executing the plan. Handing off the baton demands the best plan we have yet crafted. The plan must establish the timing of your departure and the process for preparing your successors to succeed. Where’s your plan?

Third, we must allow – and even encourage – the emergence of new models of ministry that either improve or replace what we introduced and nurtured. Just as ministry models such as seeker, praise-and-worship and even multi-ethnic ministries were our refinements of or responses to Builder institutions, we must anticipate and support such progress even if it is not what we might have done. Scripture gives them, as it gave us, abundant leeway in methodology. Let them put their fingerprints all over the model they develop.

Keep in mind that a great leader is defined not by the methods that he/she deployed but by their commitment to the vision that God has entrusted to him/her. Even in exiting, your responsibility is to make sure the vision is championed after you leave. So build bridges with your predecessors to ensure the vision lives on, and allow them to build on the vision in ways that respect the vision but reflect the evolving context. Busters will use different language, different symbols and icons, and different procedures. So what? If you have shared God’s vision in a way that they, too, treasure and commit to it, then you have done your job. Move on.

Finally, spend hours of time in prayer to honestly seek God’s guidance in this transitional time. The fact that you are reading this probably means you have some type of church leadership role. Consider what you are doing to facilitate an appropriate transition of power to the next generation. We do not want to be “the old farts hanging on to positions of power, reveling in their past glories.” (Does that sound vaguely familiar – perhaps as something you and I might have said 25 years ago when we were scheming to grab the power and positions held by our parents?) Let God speak – and listen carefully to what He is asking us to do with the gift of responsibility that He entrusted to us for a season. Never forget the Genesis 12 principle – you have been blessed to be a blessing. How does the Lord want you to bless – rather than bully and block – the generation of leaders who will inevitably replace you? What can you teach them about the heart and the character of God through the way you welcome them into leadership?

Hey, we’re just Boomers, not the “old farts” we once saw as the threat to our own self-realization. I bet you’re not ready to be put out to pasture just yet. You have a lot to give to many people – and a lot of joy to receive from imparting your years of experience-based wisdom. Show that wisdom by championing the rise of a few young leaders today. It’s a win-win strategy.

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Forrest Berry