When you track the prophets of old in the Bible, they were renegade, pioneer, transitional, long-term, and short-term.  Many of them were used to heal a church body, purge a church body, or grow a church body.  We don’t understand much about these concepts in many exisiting churches today.  I think we’ve forgotten or were never taught about “Seasons and Chapters,”  or we don’t even take the time to consider the overall God-ordained journey.  Our natural response is to look down upon any staff member or pastor that did not fit our concept of church success.  What happened to old-time simple obedience? 

In other words, that could be translated this way: “As long as a pastor or staff member stays in the same town, doing the same thing, the same way, not upsetting many, burying the dead, marrying the young, eating breakfast with the old, cutting the church grass, conforms to the current leadership, and makes sure he does everything most want done, then he’s been successful as a pastor.”  There’s a problem though:  That is not a Biblical concept!  We would rather define a man who is faithful, Godly, has character, and right with God, as “Uh oh, something is wrong with this guy because of the above”  while we gladly embrace a leader, on the other hand, who might be into gluttony, gossips, tells lies, into sexual immorality, and is racist.  I’ll tell you where a lot of this mentality comes from:  Denominations.  We’re all a part of one.  We’ve been lied to!  We’ve eaten the apple of man-made definitions of success and forgotten Biblical concepts.  Get outside into the big world of Kingdom work, and you don’t find this kind of thinking.  It’s so refreshing! 

I was with a group of church planters last week in North Carolina that came from every point of the world.  They came from all different backgrounds and theological positions, and not one time did the questions come up, “What do you run, what is your budget, how long have you been where you are, or what denomination are you?”  What did come up was “How can we best reach unreached, disconnected, far from God church-haters, and obey the Great Commission?”

In conclusion:   If God says it, do it.  If you are in a church 6 weeks, and God says move, move, regardless!  Forget what your future church employer may say, or what people may ponder.  OBEY is the only way!