We all know that the Church is not a corporate ladder to be climbed or a competition to see who can have the most authority and power in a local body. However, in my case, as is many of yours, over the course of ministry, my influence and responsibly has grown with each new role. Most recently my role shifted from overseeing family ministry to becoming one of our executive pastors. But that shift in my role means another shift in perspective. I’ve gone from seeing myself as an “expert” in one area, to once again a generalist in many areas. I was the most studied, most experienced, and in some ways the most successful person at our church in family ministry and I’ve now become the leader of areas in which I have very little study, no experience, and no success. But although I am now a generalist in each ministry area, I still need to grow and establish my place on the team as the 2nd leading voice in our church, outside of our Senior Pastor. Instead of learning heavily into family ministry, I now need to lean into becoming the expert of our particular church’s vision and a student of my Senior Pastor and his values. As the new “expert” in vision and mission, I have to learn to let go of the grabbing ahold of “what” we do in ministry and shift my focus to galvanizing a team behind the “why”. I need to be able to make decisions and lead independently at times from my senior pastor to accelerate the mission of our church. As Executive Pastors, we can never truly understand the weight of what our Senior Pastor has to carry as they lead our churches, but our role is to be an extension of them so they can do what only they can do for our church. I’m doing this by taking copious notes as he speaks, studying his leadership style as he leads me, and asking enough questions to get clarity without crossing the line into annoying him! What are you doing to become the “expert” of your church’s vision and your Senior Pastor’s values? What areas do you still lack clarity that you just need to lean into? What is your Senior Pastor still doing that if you would become an extension of them, it would free them up to lead at a greater capacity? How are you going to become the “expert” again?