We are currently engaged in a planned succession process for our Lead Pastor position. Succession planning is an intentional process for the transfer of leadership and authority from one leader to another and we want to keep the church updated throughout this important process.
Per the bylaws of Summit Church, the search has been led by our Governing Board. The Governing Board at Summit is a team made up of a combination of non-staff Summit partners and Summit pastors who are seasoned and godly leaders. The Governing Board has also employed the assistance of Vanderbloemen in their search for and consideration of both internal and external candidates.
Updates and Current Steps
We are excited to announce that, after spending several months narrowing down candidates through theological evaluations, in-person interviews, site visits, psychological evaluations, and input from Summit Partners, Summit’s Governing Board has voted unanimously on the selection of our new Lead Pastor, Michael Hinton. Michael has subsequently accepted the role and will be starting in March of this year.
Michael has his Bachelor's degree focused on Communication and Christian Ministry as well as a Master’s of Arts in Theological/Christian Leadership. He’s currently serving as a Teaching Pastor and Executive Director of Multisite at Real Life Church in Valencia, California where he lives with his wife, Erica, and their three children, Keira, Ashlyn, and Cohen.
Join Us In Prayer
Pray for wisdom and peace for Michael as he transitions out of his current role at Real Life Church.
Pray for Michael, Erica, and the Hinton children as they navigate all of the necessary preparations and changes that come with relocating to Orlando.
Pray for John as he closes out the succession process and fully engages in his new role at Summit.
Pray for God’s direction in planning for Summit’s future; that God would guide Michael and the rest of the Summit staff in helping people find and follow Jesus and toward lasting impact in our community.
Hello Church Family,
As we enter into a season of succession planning as a church, I want to make sure that you're up to date and know both how to pray in this season ahead and how to lead and serve well.
I am in the beginning stages of engaging in a succession process for my role as Lead Pastor. This is not an exit strategy for me from Summit. My sense of God's call on my life hasn't changed nor has my love for our church changed. For me, this is really a sustainability move, wanting to make sure that as long as God will allow me, I am present, effective, and engaged in ministry for our church. And I have recognized that, for both our church and myself, this season of me being in the lead pastor role is coming to an end.
There are three basic reasons why I believe that now is the right time for succession planning. Those three reasons are: personal for myself and my family, strategic for the church, and then finally aspirational.
The personal reasons encompass myself and my family recognizing that I've been operating at a bit of a limited capacity, hitting intellectual and emotional limits earlier in the day rather than later. I believe this was doing a disservice to both the people I work with in our church as well as to my family. Through a process of counseling and coaching, I recognized that there has been a long-term stress buildup in my life and I need to be intentional about managing and eliminating that stress for the sake of being the me that I'm supposed to be. My wife, Brandy, and I arrived at this realization that, though difficult, this was the right decision.
The second category of reasons is that it is right for our church and is strategically important. I look back at the season during which I've been in this role and I can see how God used me to bring a level of stability during unstable circumstances—a level of basic trustworthiness when we had every reason to mistrust our leaders. And me having a very different leadership personality than my predecessor also forced us to rethink how we do leadership. This led us to build a more collegial, collaborative leadership culture. One of the gifts from that is the Teaching Team which started out of necessity and has become one of the true strengths of this church. Looking back on this season, I can clearly see those benefits while looking forward, I can see that we need to build on that foundation with a different leadership dynamic that I do not bring to the table, even when I'm operating at my best. In light of this, it seems the right time for me to move out of this position and support someone new coming into it.
And finally, there are the aspirational reasons for the church. This is recognizing that if we're really going to be fully embracing what it means to be a multi-ethnic and multi-generational church, that needs to be credible at all levels in our church. This means that for people like me, who have been on staff for the entirety of Summit’s history (I am one of the founders of the church) it is important that I embrace the idea of transitioning out of my role before I aged out of it for the sake of supporting those dynamics.
As I've thought about it and reflected on leadership, I've realized that the most effective I've been in leadership is when I've been leading by example. And this is one where I'm eager to lead by example again—to step out of a position for the sake of supporting these values of who we want to become as a church.
We're currently in the beginning stages of this process, but we are intent on having a credible process, not just for my transition, but in the selection and transition of whoever will be our new lead pastor. That process will include serious consideration of both internal and external candidates and we’re utilizing outside support to facilitate both elements of that search.
We'll continue in those beginning stages for a few months, seeking to understand what we're looking for, both in leadership dynamic and the character, qualities, and giftings of the person who will come in. In the fall of this year, there will begin to be consideration of potential candidates. This process is being led by our Governing Board—they're ultimately responsible for deciding who will sit in the lead pastor role, but they will be working with support from experts in this type of transition to be sure we are navigating this well.
I invite you to be praying for Brandy and me and our family in this season. We're not sure exactly what's next. I'd love to remain on staff at Summit in some capacity, but I am continuing to seek God's plan and we covet your prayers as we navigate our side of this transition. Please pray also for the person that God will be placing in this role. We don't yet know who it is, but God does and so we can be praying for and lifting that person up in prayer even now. Finally, please pray for the Governing Board as they navigate and lead us in this season.
Thank you for being a part of the church that I love and making it a church worth loving. I look forward to serving alongside you in the weeks, months, and years to come.