Adam McLane

The Baton

 

The Baton: Are you waiting for it to be handed to you or are you grabbing it?
Are you waiting for someone to hand you a baton? Or are you training to grab it?

A few years ago I had a conversation with a leader in his early 60s. It went something like this:

Me: I’m really concerned that a lot of leaders don’t have a plan to hand off leadership to someone younger.

Leader: I’m concerned about that, too. I can’t speak for everyone but I know I’d like to retire eventually.

Me: So why aren’t you raising someone up? Someone you can hand the baton off to?

Leader: See that’s the thing. I’m willing to let go of the baton but I worked too hard to just give it away. I’ll know a person is the right one when they take the baton from me instead of waiting for me to give it to them.

Me: But isn’t that disrespectful? All of our lives we’ve been told to respect our elders. I don’t want to take something, I want to earn it.

Leader: I guess that means you aren’t ready.

That was a lot to chew on. But it sparked something in me. I was in my mid-30s, waiting for someone to look at me and say, “One day I’d like to hand this baton off to you.” But what I didn’t understand was that my willingness to be patient, serve my elders, and hope that my hard work would one day pay off was the very thing that was holding me back.

So that’s my challenge for young leaders. Are you waiting for someone to hand you a baton? Or are you working yourself to the point where you’ll be strong enough to take it?

 

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Adam McLane

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Comments

4 responses to “The Baton”

  1. Eric Woods Avatar
    Eric Woods

    This is challenging. I served as an associate pastor for ten years, expecting someday someone would hand me the baton. When he eventually moved on, he handed it to someone else. It was a terrible blow, but I kept running.

    Reply
    1. Adam McLane Avatar
      Adam McLane

      I feel you.

      Reply
  2. kolby milton Avatar
    kolby milton

    Love this post adam. I am constanly looking for new leaders. I am always challenging myself with this question. I don’t want to be a lone ranger, and do it all alone. I think we can do it better together. I love developing leaders who outshine me as a youth worker.

    Reply
  3. Gerald Avatar
    Gerald

    Interesting. I’m in a UMC church and volunteer under our assoc./youth pastor. It doesn’t work that way here. He can’t hand the baton off unless he’s leaving our church. Even then I’d have to be confirmed. Wish it could but don’t see it happening.

    In “taking the baton” many, myself included, don’t want to undermine our leaders. He’s paid and I’m a volunteer. There’s many things I would do differently but I can’t undermine his leadership to the kids so I try hard not to.

    Reply

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