So I talked with the elders and talked with Dave several months before that point. I said: what if I step aside January 1st and stay for six months in a supportive role, but you become the senior minister at the end of January? They thought about it, prayed about it and agreed to do that. And I really think that was a wise thing to do because I was already becoming a lame duck. People are gracious and kind, but it was becoming awkward to have future plans because they had to check with so many people. So that was kind of the last step in the transition plan and I think it worked out pretty well.
Preaching: When Dave came on as preaching associate with you 17 years ago, at that point did you have him in mind as a potential successor?
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Russell: No, I wasn’t even thinking about it at that point. I don’t think Dave was either. The elders felt like at that juncture we needed to bring somebody on for a couple of reasons. One was to share the preaching load because I was preaching four or five times a weekend, and as any preacher knows the real pressure of the ministry is that week by week grind of getting up a sermon — kind of like having a term paper due every week. And so they thought this will be one way to relieve some of the pressure of preaching. The second was that there was some speculation this was becoming a personality cult and we wanted to make sure that wasn’t happening. And by sharing the preaching I think it gave some diversity to the congregation and gave a relief to me.
Preaching: Dave, how do you evaluate the whole transition process? Do you sense it has gone well? Are there things you wish you could redo?
Stone: Sometimes people ask us if this is a good model for other places and we’re both quick to say it really has worked great for us, but I don’t know if it’s a model. It’s too long of a stretch. I’ve been here 17 years and it worked great because of my age and because of his age. Neither one of us was thinking about successor back in 1989 because he was 45 years old and there was no reason to be thinking about that. I always saw my ministry as trying to maximize and lengthen his. If I could make him more effective then I felt like I did my job.
It’s worked well. I think the reason it’s worked well in this setting is because of Bob’s humility and his willingness to share the spotlight. He’s given me more and more leadership responsibilities. We’ve had a couple of coaches here in football at University of Louisville who would put the backup quarterback in the second quarter, let them run some plays and take a drive and see if they could take them down for a touchdown. And I felt like that’s what Bob did for the first ten years of my being here. I got to play quarterback as a backup behind an All-American.