On Being Number Two

Becoming an associate pastor is akin to an arranged marriage. Compatibility and camaraderie have little to do with it. Subservience and obedience have everything to do with it. I was aware at the time what a rare working relationship existed between Nate Holt and me, but Richard Carter impressed upon me the brutal reality of what most senior/associate relationships are like. In retrospect I can see that even Dad’s batting average with associates wasn’t high. Lonnie Johnston, Wilber Benham, and Charles Cooper managed to work with Dad more amicably than almost a dozen others who found themselves on the receiving end of his wrath and disdain. Congregations unwittingly contribute to the tension that exists between seniors and associates by expressing that they like this or that about the associate; if this is done while expressing what they like more about the senior pastor, then the coexistence can progress smoothly. But if it ever appears that the associate is somehow favored over the senior, then look out! This is a direct threat to the hierarchical homeostasis, and I personally don’t know of any instance where the associate came out on top. My first mistake at Rockbrook was to get along with the parishioners.