by Robert Stephens

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When I began serving as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Alexandria in January 2023, our staff was faithfully holding things together through a season of transition. Many had stepped into interim roles, some juggling multiple responsibilities at once. Six were serving as interims, and six others were preparing for retirement. That’s a dozen transitions and one new pastor trying to figure out where to start. Somewhere between job descriptions and farewell luncheons, I started wondering if “Director of Transitions” should be my title.

My first task was simple but urgent: bring stability. The church didn’t need a new program or vision statement. It needed calm leadership, clear communication, and steady encouragement. Those first months were about building trust and giving our unsettled team room to rediscover confidence and clarity.

Once things settled down a bit, I began hearing a familiar phrase in several separate conversations: “Pastor, I’ll be retiring in about two years.” It wasn’t a coordinated announcement, just six faithful servants independently giving me the same two-year courtesy. By the time the last one told me, I started laughing and said, “Well, looks like 2025’s going to be a busy year!” And sure enough, it became The Great Staff Transition of 2025.

This year, six beloved employees retired! As they stepped into a new chapter, we entered one of our own: a season of prayer, interviews, succession planning, and onboarding as we welcomed new faces and reimagined how each role could serve the mission of FBCA in fresh ways.

We didn’t do it perfectly. There were a few mismatched fits and a couple of lessons learned the hard way. But through it all, God’s faithfulness never wavered. By the end of 2025, I could finally say what every pastor longs to say: “We’re not hiring!” For the first time since my arrival, we have a full, healthy, and gifted team, clear in their roles, united in purpose, and ready to serve.

Looking back, here are a few lessons this season has taught me (some learned the easy way, most the hard way):

• Communicate often. Silence creates stories. If you don’t tell people what’s happening, they’ll fill in the blanks themselves.
• Make tough calls early. They don’t get better with time. Waiting usually only makes them harder.
• Document everything. Continuity materials for each role are worth their weight in gold.
• Give lots of grace. Transitions are disorienting for everyone. Be patient—with your team, your church, and yourself.
• Expect an emotional toll. I knew it would be administratively heavy. I didn’t realize how deeply I would feel each goodbye. These aren’t just coworkers, they’re co-laborers in Christ.

The loss of institutional knowledge is real. The fatigue of constant change is real. But so is the joy of watching God raise up new leaders and breathe fresh energy into old spaces. We celebrated the past, grieved what was changing, and embraced what God was doing next. And somewhere between farewell luncheons and onboarding meetings, I realized: This is what healthy transition looks like. Not the absence of stress, but the presence of grace.

So here’s to 2026, no search committees, no HR charts, no transition binders (at least for now). Just a grateful pastor, a unified team, and a faithful God who keeps building his church through every season of change.

Robert Stephens is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Alexandria, VA.

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