Zambia Hunt

The Timeline: How Long Does It Take?

There is no secret to how long leadership training takes. This process should be guided by biblical vision and a clear understanding of the end goal. In the ministry of Faith Baptist Church, Riverside church plant, I had the privilege of transferring leadership to Saidi Chishimba in 2007.

Our relationship began simply – I visited him in the dorms when he was a student at Copperbelt University. He started attending FBC and joined the young adult group I was leading. For several years, he grew with us there. Then came a season when he became distracted and moved to another part of town. But in late 1997, something changed. He became deeply serious with the Lord and took off spiritually.

As I watched, it became increasingly clear that God was pushing him toward ministry. Saidi acknowledged this calling, and the spiritual leaders around him affirmed what we were all seeing. 

There was a ten-year investment in a relationship, laboring together in a mentoring relationship, and the foundation for a lasting friendship based on trust and competency.

How to Determine the Right Person to Transition Leadership To

Look for someone who is serious about the Word, and I mean genuinely, inconveniently serious. Not someone content with surface-level Christianity or comfortable religiosity that asks no hard questions. You need a leader who embraces the objective truth of Scripture and wrestles with how to apply it honestly to life, to cultural situations, to the everyday challenges we all face in ministry.

Watch for deepening hunger. Spiritual appetite that grows rather than diminishes over time. Look for unmistakable evidence that God’s hand is upon them—the kind of evidence you can’t manufacture or fake.

Watch for Defining Moments. God has a way of orchestrating defining moments that reveal what’s really in a person’s heart. These moments often come when the person you’re mentoring faces a clear crossroads—when the church can offer only a modest ministry position while secular opportunities simultaneously present themselves with large salaries and attractive benefits packages. When you financially can’t compete. Not even close.

Pay attention to what they choose in these moments.

When someone turns their back on money and security to follow God’s call to ministry, that is someone who is willing to make the sacrifices necessary to serve Christ and His church. That kind of decision tells you much about their commitment to God.

Brothers, don’t hand off leadership to someone who hasn’t been tested. Watch how they respond when comfort and calling pull in opposite directions. The right person will choose the harder path – not perfectly, but consistently.

When the Time Comes

I saw Saidi’s willingness to take the hard road—not the path of least resistance, but the right path. He stood up for what he believed was right. His commitment to Scripture assured me that when difficulties came (and they did come), he would obey Scripture and seek to follow the Lord above all else.

I was thankful that God had prepared a man willing to take up this mantle of pastoral ministry. But what sealed it for me was Saidi’s spiritual humility before God. He wasn’t eager for the position. He wasn’t ambitious in the wrong sense. Instead, he was filled with holy reverence, overwhelmed by the weight of the responsibility being placed on his shoulders. He had reached that crucial point of maturity where he understood this truth: unless God does the work through us, it’s impossible.

Conclusion

If you’re reading this feeling overwhelmed by the weight of succession planning, let me encourage you: God is already at work. He’s raising up leaders in your congregation right now – men whose hearts He’s preparing for ministry.

Your calling isn’t to manufacture a successor. It’s to be faithful in discipleship and invest deeply in the men God brings across your path. Trust God with the timeline and with a clear vision for the end goal. Ten years seemed long when I was in the midst of the process, but looking back, that was exactly what was needed.

Don’t wait to start intentionally investing in potential leaders. Start now. Invite them into your life, let them come alongside you in ministry, and mentor them in the Word. Pray and trust God to do what only He can do: raise the next leader for your church or gospel ministry.