Sometimes you have to reinvent yourself. It’s OK; it’s not a sign of failure but a sign that the seasons have changed. When the leaves begin to change in the fall, you don’t say, “Oh, wow. summer failed!” No, you understand that summer has to end and fall will begin soon after. When you are promoted from first to second grade, it’s not because you failed; it’s because you’re entering the next season. So it is with our individual lives. We have seasons too.

Almost a year ago, I left the pastorate. After a lifetime of serving churches, I realized that it was time to step down. I didn’t leave God or His Church. I didn’t leave the ministry or stop preaching. But I did change platforms. My pulpit looks different these days…completely different.

I’ll be very transparent here and say that last December, I didn’t know how I could deal with sitting in the pew instead of being behind a pulpit. I assumed my ministry was over and this was when I’d begin the slow and painful process of dying a little bit each day. At 67 years old I was tired, frustrated and felt like my days of productivity in the Kingdom were over. 

Wow! Was I ever wrong. But the transition didn’t happen instantly. It took time for God to show me that second seasons are a blessing, not a curse. I began considering what my first season of nearly half-century of ministry had prepared me for. I started making mental lists of how to leverage that lifetime of experience, and the outcome is that I am now in the most blessed time in my life! 

I have written books and blogs that touch people’s lives. I have spoken the gospel message through podcasts and radio interviews to four, soon to be five, continents. I am being allowed to privately counsel some of the people whom I’ve met through promoting our book. I am able to teach over 100 different university students each semester. In other words, God is allowing me to touch more lives each week than I ever did through pastoring.

Don’t get me wrong; I loved most parts of pastoring. I loved preaching the Word and helping Christians grow. I’m not bitter or tainted toward the Church. I’ve just realized that God has moved me from one season to another and it’s incredible. I thought it was a demotion, but I now see it was a promotion!

So how about you? Is it time for a change of seasons? Is it time to switch gears? Don’t be afraid. Just trust that the same God who changes summer into fall will change your seasons and bring about something in that new season that could have happened no other way.