In the current Southern Baptist climate, we have all seen our share of leadership transitions gone wrong. Some of our most respected leaders have fallen ignominiously after decades of service to our family of churches, and great was their fall. Others fell as quickly as they rose. Southern Baptists languish for healthy, God-honoring leadership transitions today. So, when we have a front row seat to such, we should cherish every moment.
And I do.
For seven years, Dr. Gary Hollingsworth led the South Carolina Baptist Convention with a servant’s heart, a strategic mind, a unifying voice, and a diligent hand. He encouraged the convention staff and built it into a team of innovative, faithful, and energetic servants of Christ’s churches. He shepherded the shepherds and walked among the sheep. He recaptured the convention’s spirit of relentless forward commitment to Great Commission advance and reunified its voice around the gospel as a matter of first priority. It is true of Dr. Hollingsworth as it was of a beloved servant-hearted leader millennia before him: “He shepherded them with a pure heart and guided them with his skillful hands” (Psalm 78:72).
He has brought me close these past two months, in the final weeks of confirmation and throughout the month of April. I have seen how SCBC staff and church leaders respect him and love him, and how he respects and loves them, too. The mantle that enrobed Dr. Hollingsworth at the SCBC is a testament to the purity of his heart and skill of his hands. It is worn with strenuous labor, stretched by the cost of leadership, stained with the tears of the shepherd, and infused with the scent of the sheep. In May, he lays it down as God carries him to a new season of life and ministry. Such a garment compels the utmost respect for its previous wearer and reverent fear for its Maker. To bend low and take it up is to remember God’s favor in the coming and going of a called and faithful leader.
Dr. Hollingsworth has included me in every conversation, helped me identify short-term and long-term opportunities, methodically informed and counselled me on specific challenges, patiently answered all my questions, orchestrated opportunities for transfer of relational equity, and practiced humbled deference at every turn. Outside my own family, he has been my greatest supporter and encourager.
South Carolina’s 2,100 churches do not get to see behind the curtains in a transfer of leadership such as this. But I can say with full confidence that if you could, you would be proud of and thankful for what you saw. Dr. Hollingsworth is a man of integrity through whom God has worked mightily on behalf of South Carolina Baptists for many years. He has laid a firm foundation on which his successor can build with confidence.
In 2 Kings chapter 2, when Elijah was taken away by the Lord, his mantle fell to the ground in front of his successor. Still warm from Elijah’s body and fresh with his scent, Elisha took up the mantle. He struck the waters of the Jordan with it and cried out, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” The waters stirred and parted, and Elisha saw that God was with him as He had been with Elijah before him.
I am striking the waters today. I hold in my hands the mantle of a great leader whose tenure will be recorded forever as one knowing the full extent of God’s favor, grace, and power. Standing here on the riverbank today, calling out to God for His blessing, I realize this stirring has much to do with Dr. Hollingsworth and very little to do with me.
South Carolina Baptists, the waters stir and stack. God is with us today as He was yesterday. While we step foot into the waters together and cross over, I am reminded that God’s blessing has come to us through the faithful servant-leadership of Dr. Gary Hollingsworth. He shepherded with a pure heart and guided with skillful hands. I am, and will always be, grateful for him.