The Shadow of Your Predecessor
Robert Kemper
Each of us is somebody's predecessor—that truth helps me understand better the relationship I should have with my predecessor.
—Robert Kemper
You'd been familiar with the fine reputation of Old First Church for some time, so when Dr. Adams resigned from it you thought maybe, just maybe, this was what God had been preparing you for. Old First had been served by only three senior ministers in the last fifty years; Dr. Adams, himself, accounted for twenty of those years. He retired almost a year ago at age 67. And now you have the chance to join the procession of distinguished pastors in this great church.
After submitting your dossier, you were delighted to hear that your name came to the attention of the pastoral search committee. They thought you met their profile, so they invited you for a conversation. That led to an invitation to preach.
Soon the initiative shifted; they began wooing you. Eventually you emerged as the committee's selection to be the next senior minister at Old First Church. What a great moment for you!
You preach your first sermon, and all goes well. You make your way to the church's cavernous fellowship hall where a reception for you and your family awaits. As you greet your new congregation in a receiving line, you notice off to the side that a sizable and growing knot of people is forming in one corner. When you finish greeting people, you amble over. You soon see that the crowd is gathered around a distinguished-looking, gray-haired, freshly-tanned gentleman, just back from a ten-month interim pastorate in Sun City.
A member of the pastoral search committee grabs you by the arm and whisks you through the crowd. "I want you to meet Charley," he beams. Charles Adams finishes patting a parishioner on the ...
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