Jeff Harlow pastored Crossroads Community Church in Kokomo, Indiana for nearly 38 years.
Crossroads grew from less than 60 to a congregation of more than 3,000, and the scope of the church’s mission expanded from serving a handful of families to reaching thousands across north central Indiana.
Jeff led Crossroads through a strategic succession plan that ended with the reigns of leadership in Chris Duncan’s hands and the church in full stride in its mission. He and Becky, his wife of 42 years, are the parents of 4 children and have 13 grandchildren.
Dancing with Cinderella: Leading a Healthy Church Transition
Make a list of the most costly mistakes leaders can make, and near the top is botching their exit. People may not remember how you led, because they can’t get beyond how you left.
It doesn’t matter if you’re the leader of a small or large church, old or plant church, traditional or contemporary church, obscure or iconic church; an unhealthy leadership transition hurts people and cripples mission.
Dancing with Cinderella: Leading a Healthy Church Transition will help a leader, the leadership teams, and the members of a church think through the principles of transition as they prepare for the exit of a current pastor and the entrance of their new leader. This book addresses many of the questions that a transition raises:
Why are transitions so hard?
What is really at the heart of the transition?
How do the objectives of a leader change after the transition starts?
How do departing leaders define future boundaries?
In these pages you can discover how to do transition right, so you don’t have to figure out why it went wrong.
General Messages
Invite Jeff to Speak
ACT3
Our identity and sense of purpose often changes throughout the various stages of life, and navigating those transitions is no easy task. ACT3 is a ministry that helps people discover how their identity and calling takes shape in the 3rd stage of life.
ACT3 participants discover their next steps during a seven-week small group learning experience called a Discovery Growth Group. Over the course of the seven weeks, participants explore six personal attributes representing God’s handiwork in their life: their Journey, Strengths, Spiritual Gifts, Passions, the key People throughout their life, and Resources. This aggregate forms their "Calling Star" and it is used to help participants discover opportunities to serve in alignment with their calling.
The mission of ACT3 is to connect 3rd Stagers to people and opportunities to serve in alignment with their calling. Visit ACT3 to learn more and see if there’s a group in your area.
