The Preacher Spring 1990

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After ten years of editing LEADERSHIP journal and CHRISTIANITY TODAY magazine, I have decided to change jobs. If I had realized that my resignation would bring so many nice comments about what a great guy I was, how effective my outstanding journalism was, and how much my sterling personality would be missed, I would have left years ago.

Fortunately, those comments have been balanced by others that have kept my feet on the ground:

One person said, "I thought you'd never leave." (I couldn't quite make out the emphasis.)

Another said, with an enigmatic smile, "We can't quite believe you're leaving."

A third simply said: "You have been here for a long time."

Others have been a bit more bald. For years I have encouraged candor from my colleagues, and I interpret the following as proof that my lessons have been learned:

"Am I going to get what you promised me last year?"

"When football coaches retire, the whole staff goes, too. Does this mean I need to look for another job?"

Far and away, however, the most interesting group of comments (and the ones that surprised me the most) came from those who were also considering job changes. I had been naive, I guess, about how many and how often people in our culture think about their careers and ways to advance them. Seeing someone else make a move, I learned, triggers a wide range of emotions, and it places the person making the move in the position of confidante and reassurer.

I don't know that I did a very good job in these roles. I know that I didn't come out of it an expert in vocational counseling. But I did find myself saying several things over and over again.

Often the questions were basic queries about whether or not they should look for a new position. "I'm not really unhappy with what ...

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