Andrew Forrest

The Rev. Dr. Kevin Watson will be moving to Tulsa to become the Director of Academic Growth and Formation at the Tulsa Extension Site for Asbury Theological Seminary, as well as joining our staff at Asbury Church as Scholar-in-Residence. I am PUMPED about this!

Partnership Between Asbury Church and Asbury Theological Seminary

One of the things that attracted me to Tulsa was the partnership between Asbury Church (AC) and Asbury Theological Seminary (ATS), and all the potential that implied. ATS has an extension campus site on our property, right across the parking lot in a building we own called The Development Center. (Both AC and ATS are named after the great Methodist missionary Francis Asbury, but they are completely separate entities with different histories—“no relation,” in other words.)

Why Pastoral Formation Matters

The Rev. Tom Harrison—my predecessor as senior pastor at Asbury—is a longtime, vocal supporter of ATS. Quoting Maxie Dunham, Tom likes to say:

“As the seminary goes, so goes the pastor;
As the pastor goes, so goes the church;
As the church goes, so goes the world!”

— Maxie Dunham (President Emeritus, Asbury Theological Seminary)

Tom—and Maxie—are exactly right. One of the projects I’m most interested in is learning to evangelize effectively in Negative World, and that project will never amount to anything unless we prepare future pastors to lead and thrive in the Negative World in which we find ourselves. To have an excellent seminary presence right across one’s parking lot? HECK YES. I’m hoping that it will be like the Christian version of living next-door to Xerox Parc in its Silicon Valley heyday—the learning and cross-influence could be huge for the Church’s mission in post-Christian America.

The Asbury Church Development Center

One of the last initiatives Tom led at Asbury Church was a multi-million dollar campaign to create and fund The Development Center. The Development Center is an incubator and host of local Christian non-profits—the organizations pay us nominal rent and our hope is that the informal mixing and connections between the organizations create new opportunities for God to work. One of the non-profits housed in The Development Center is the Tulsa extension campus of ATS. Which brings us to Dr. Kevin Watson.

Kevin’s New roles in Tulsa

Kevin’s new role is to lead and and grow the ATS presence in Tulsa. At Asbury Church, we’ve brought Kevin onto our staff as Scholar-in-Residence because we want to strengthen the partnership between the seminary and the church. Our hope is that having someone of Kevin’s expertise and stature at ATS will attract young, talented students to Tulsa; because a rising tide lifts all boats, if the seminary wins, we win!

The Asbury Church Scholar-in-Residence

As the Scholar-in-Residence at Asbury, Kevin will serve as a mentor and leader for students, staff members, and young adults in our congregation who are interested in the pastoral ministry, and he will help connect ATS-Tulsa students into the worshiping life of our church. Kevin will also preach for me and teach on Sunday mornings and in other settings from time to time.

How Kevin Will Help Me out this summer

Starting TOMORROW (with Psalm 73) (UPDATE—I meant to say starting with Psalm 74!), Kevin will be filling in for me and writing daily commentary for most of our our remaining psalms. I’ll still write some from time to time, but I’ve been writing daily commentary since last August, and with my deadlines approaching on the fall batch of daily commentaries to support our churchwide reading plan (on the Gospel of Matthew—starts 8/20!) as well as a book manuscript deadline at the end of the summer, I can really use the help!

In addition, I’ll be introducing Kevin to the Asbury congregation on July 23 and July 30 when he’ll be preaching at all of our services.

The Personal Connection

Kevin is married to Melissa, and they have 3 children. My wife Elaine and I have known Kevin and Melissa for 16 years, and they were part of the launch team that started Munger Place Church in Dallas in 2010. Crazy how God works. In additional to that, Kevin’s dad Matt and his late mom Tellia have been members at Asbury for the last several years.

Kevin coming to Tulsa means that the Lord is up to something, and I can’t wait to see what it is.

Let’s GO.

P.S.

Kevin blogs at www.kevinmwatson.com.

P.P.S.

The most important things a leader does is provide clarity.

Clarity trumps pretty much everything else, but it’s very difficult to achieve.

Clarity is difficult because it requires a leader to know his own mind—something that rarely comes without a lot of reflection—and then it requires the leader express his mind in ways that others can easily understand and remember.

All this takes a lot of work.

But it is worth it.

Nothing is more important in leadership than clarity.

I don't know why the Lord has brought us to Asbury, but I know this: there is work to do.

I didn't move here to just mail it in and draw down on capital stored up by the folks who have come before me; nope—it’s time to build.

As I said in my first sermon, it’s actually very simple:

In life you are either building on what has come before, or you drawing down on that inheritance. There is no in-between.

You’re either taking what you’ve been given and doing more with it, or else you are squandering what you’ve been given and wasting it.

You don’t light a lamp only to hide it under a bushel basket.

You don’t get a talent only to bury it.

NO.

You do something with what you’ve been given.

So, last week after the vote at Asbury towards disaffiliation, I put on a pair of neon orange running shoes as a way of telling folks that we’re going to get to work—we’re not going to sit around and twiddle our thumbs.

(I even wrote a blog post about this: “Buckle Up, Buttercup: Let’s Get Ready to Run”.)

Imagine my surprise when I showed up to our Tuesday evening Administrative Council board meeting—the chief governance board for the entire church—only to find that the entire board had colluded behind my back and had shown up wearing their running shoes!

I know it seems like a small thing, but I was really touched and taken aback by the gesture. I’m the new guy and I know folks are still trying to figure out what I’m about and if I can be trusted. For them to show up in their running shoes tells me that they are ready to run.

Let’s go.

And by the way, I’m going to wear running shoes with my suit tomorrow morning.

I don’t really care if I preach to 50 people or 5,000—to me it’s the same thing. I don’t get nervous in a bigger room or feel more comfortable in a smaller room. So, preaching to a bigger congregation on Sundays doesn’t matter to me one way or the other. In fact, preaching to more folks has never been a goal of mind, and is absolutely not why I left Texas to move to Oklahoma. What is a goal of mine is to do the most with what I’ve been given. To run hard, in other words.

The biggest change for me personally in moving here is not the size of the congregation on Sundays but the size of the staff I’m supposed to lead: about 70 folks (I think!).

The staff is understandably nervous and uncertain about the future, since my predecessor here, the Rev. Tom Harrison, was senior pastor for 29 years! Everything seems different, and I know that folks are unsure how to proceed and how to make decisions.

“This is the time of year when I always order green popsicles for the next summer. Are we even DOING green popsicles any more?”

— Made-up Staff Member

The most important thing I can provide our church is clarity.

And so I’ve given a lot of thought about how I can provide clarity to the staff and let them know I trust them to make decisions.

In short:

I’m asking each of our staff members to become George W. Bush in running shoes.

[I know I have a fair number of pastors who read this blog, so the following is a summary of a presentation I gave to our staff this week to help them feel confident in making decisions and taking ownership.]

Friends,

As I told you at staff meeting on Tuesday, I know everything is strange these days and folks are wondering, “What should I do about X or Y now that we have a new senior pastor?”

My simple answer:

Channel your inner George W. Bush.

That is, just go for it. Become “The Decider.” (One of my favorite Bush-isms.)

What follows is a simple rubric for making decisions that I hope you’ll save and to which you’ll refer back from time to time.

How to Make Decisions at Asbury

Here’s what I want you to know:

I trust your judgment. And you were hired to do stuff. So, don’t be afraid.

I would rather have you make bold decisions and mess them up than be paralyzed by fear of failure.

So, to paraphrase George W. Bush:

Go for it!

And this is how I want you to make decisions.

When faced with a decision, I want you to first ask:

This is how to do that:

Pursue Excellence—make decisions that help us pursue excellence. Put that mint on the pillow, baby.

2. Provide Clarity—make it clear what folks are supposed to do or where they are supposed to go.

The way to ensure you are both pursuing excellence and clarity is through

Which is a very practical way of fulfilling the Great Commandment, anyway.

In summary:

I trust you to make decisions. And if we get those decisions wrong, guess what?

We’ll repent and redo. No worries.

And Please Please Please Please Please Hear This

MY DOOR IS ALWAYS OPEN* TO YOU

*Now, my door will not always literally be “open.” (I keep it closed as a way to help me focus.)

But unless the blinds on my office door are closed, you are always always free to come in and visit and ask a question, etc.

Always.

Please don’t hesitate to come in. If I’m in a meeting, then I won’t be able to talk, but otherwise I’d love to see you for any reason.

In fact, I’d probably prefer an in-person visit to an email or a text—it’s usually more efficient. You are also welcome to call my desk phone, though I don’t really know how to use it yet. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Friends, there’s a lot of great work to do. The Lord isn’t done with us yet, which means he has work for us to do.

Let’s go.

It’s time to run.

—Andrew

P.S. If you’ve read this far and are an Asburian, I’d love to have you join me tomorrow—let’s wear our running shoes together. Literally.

Welcome Dr. Kevin Watson to Tulsa!