Adam Greenway has learned first-hand the challenges that come with transition and establishing new leadership in an organization.
The former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary experienced a difficult departure from the seminary in 2022 and some bumps along the way since then.
Today, Greenway appears to be all smiles while sharing how the last few years have strengthened his faith, trust and resolve in serving the Lord. One of the ways he’s serving is through his consulting firm Non-profit Transition Solutions that helps organizations avoid some of the pitfalls many experience.
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“From what I’ve lived through and experienced in my own life and ministry,” Greenway told The Baptist Paper, “I believe so strongly in the need for effective and compelling, transitional leadership and transitional work, so that we can set up the next leader pastor, CEO, executive director, whatever, to have the best possible runway for success — that’s what motivates me to do this.”
‘Meaningful’ returns
In April, Greenway and his family returned to Southwestern Seminary for the unveiling of his portrait on campus. Several weeks later in June, he took a much shorter trip from his home in Central Florida to Orlando for the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. This year’s annual meeting, he noted, marked the end of his “three-year-hiatus from Convention life.”
Greenway was a messenger from First Baptist Church Frostproof, Florida, where he and his family are members. He described his recent experiences as “meaningful” — not only to him personally but also to his 16-year-old son, Wade, who is considering a call to ministry and has already preached several times.
While grabbing T-shirts and other SBC swag at the annual meeting, Greenway’s son also kept running into various leaders wanting to compliment him.
“People from around the SBC, and around the country, came up to me and my son and said, ‘Hey (to Wade), ‘I watched your preaching. You did a really good job.’” Greenway said that was especially encouraging to his son.
As churches across the SBC search for young talent to fill a growing number of vacant pastor roles, Greenway hopes to help churches and ministries navigate leadership transitions successfully.
“If just preaching the Bible was enough, then we probably wouldn’t see some of the challenges we see,” he said. “Very rarely do I hear of pastoral terminations that truly are over matters of theology and doctrine.
“Almost all the time, it’s over interpersonal conflict, leadership style, how to work with people … all of which are intrinsically tied into … leading, managing transitions.”
For Greenway, who has served as an interim pastor 14 times at 13 churches in six states, he noted he’s “done more interim or transitional leadership than anything else in my ministry.”
Greenway said he’s specifically interested in what makes certain transitions more successful than others. Too often, he said, a search firm “makes a big public announcement about their new leader, and six months later that leader is gone.”
He explained how search firms tend to focus on finding “the right person,” but “they don’t really do a lot with the process of transition.”
Quoting Peter Drucker, who is often referred to as the “Father of Modern Management,” Greenway agrees that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
“Many organizations really don’t take stock of their own culture well enough to be able to empower a new leader to know what that leader is coming into and how to lead,” Greenway said.
Asking tough questions
Churches looking for a new pastor need to ask, “What is the distinct culture of this church? What is this pastor going to step into?”
That’s where churches, or other nonprofit organizations, need an “outsider” to help them navigate the process and consider those questions, Greenway said. And that’s where he comes in to help.
“From watching successful and unsuccessful transitions over the years … I couldn’t find anybody who was really working in that space specifically,” he said.
Greenway believes it’s a space that needs to be effectively filled.
“Because when transitions go off the rails, casualties result,” he said. “People leave the church, finances decline, membership diminishes. All kinds of bad things happen because, well, you ended up with the wrong leader — but really it’s because the process did not carry itself out well.”
Evaluating ‘what happened’
Last year, Greenway worked closely with Cornerstone Christian Academy in Avon Park, Florida, where both of his children attend and his wife, Carla, teaches. Greenway served as a transitional head of school while leadership searched for someone to fill the position.
George Hall, board chair for Cornerstone Christian Academy and senior pastor of Avon Lakes Baptist Church, said Greenway not only helped the school find new leadership but also recapture its culture, while helping it “increase our income and our budget substantially just with some good guidance.”
In addition to helping Cornerstone, Greenway has worked with a mix of churches, a nonprofit in Texas and others. He expressed nothing but thankfulness for how the Lord has provided — and he’s looking forward to the road ahead.
“While I never would have chosen to live through the circumstances that my family and I have lived through over the past three and a half years, my confidence in God’s goodness and in Scripture’s veracity is undiminished. … I’m at peace that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing right now.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Shawn Hendricks, director of content for TAB Media Group.
