FBC Hendersonville senior pastor Bruce Chesser (right) shares from his experience during an informal question-and-answer session with his executive pastor Bruce Raley (left) during a special training for executive pastors March 3–5 at the church.
(Photo by Shawn Hendricks/The Baptist Paper)
Trust, integrity, passing along key information, and “no surprises,” which basically means the senior pastor can go on vacation without the church “blowing up.”
These were just a few of the characteristics needed for a pastor’s “No. 2” leader in ministry, noted Bruce Chesser, senior pastor of First Baptist Church Hendersonville, Tenn. That executive pastor position at FBC is filled by Bruce Raley — also affectionately referred to by many members as “Bruce No. 2.” But Raley’s official title is senior associate pastor.
While Chesser works more in the spotlight, Raley says he’s “called to be a No. 2” and happy to be behind the scenes. But this doesn’t exempt him from being in the middle of almost everything going on at the church, which averages a weekly attendance of around 3,500. It’s that calling that helped inspire the church’s Ministry Essentials for Executive Pastors training — held March 3–5 — that drew a couple dozen executive pastors from 15 different states.
‘Equipped and encouraged’
Joseph Daniel, administrative pastor of Gateway Baptist Church in Irmo, South Carolina, was among those who attended the event.
“Headed home equipped and encouraged,” posted Daniel on Facebook before departing Hendersonville on Wednesday. “For the past 3 days 24 of us got a master class in church finances, staffing, budgeting, leading change, communication, and more.”
“This conference was a free event they do as a part of their budget and plan to equip church leaders, and it was a tremendous blessing.”
Raley explains in the training material, “In essence, the executive pastor works alongside the senior pastor to free him of many of the daily tasks and decisions so he is free to pray, study, preach and lead.”
Trust
The executive pastor world these days can be an especially tricky position to hold at a church, Raley noted. It’s too often a place where the role of a senior pastor and executive pastor can clash — and leave some confused about who exactly does what.
Through the training, Raley hopes to help other “XPs” avoid pitfalls of jealousy, power struggles and a smorgasbord of other related issues that often can be boiled down to the need for both pastors to be “on the same page.”
For the two “Bruces” at FBC Hendersonville, the word “trust” is where it begins.
“What I needed was somebody I could trust,” said Chesser, who spoke to the group during an informal panel discussion. “I needed somebody that thought like I think. I needed somebody that I knew when I was out town for whatever reason that they weren’t going to blow it up with some stupid hair-brained thing.”
Bad day at the beach
Chesser shared the story of being away on vacation — before Raley came on board — when back at the church an unexpected announcement “exploded.” Chesser recalled when a former church leader made a very unpopular decision without his knowledge. In short, it didn’t go well.
“I’m sitting on the beach on vacation and my phone explodes,” Chesser recalled. “I’m getting dozens of angry emails, and I don’t know what it’s about. I don’t know what they’re talking about. … I came home to a hornet’s nest.”
He later added, “That is the opposite of what I need out of a No. 2 guy.”
“I need somebody that I can trust. I need somebody that doesn’t have any surprises for me,” he said. “[Raley] knows the things I need to know. He knows to keep me informed.”
While Chesser’s style admittedly can be more of “ready, shoot, aim,” he likes that Raley is more methodical and intentional about decisions, which makes a “good partnership.”
“Sometimes he’s tugging me by my shirt tale to slow me down,” Chesser said, “and sometimes I’m pulling him along, saying ‘Come on now, we’ve talked about this enough.’”
But the two said they’ve never gotten into a significant disagreement, and they credit that to spending a lot of time together.
Communication
A big part of what makes their partnership work, they both noted, is that they talk every day — and essentially can look at each other and know what the other is thinking without saying a word. In addition to mostly informal meetings during each week, they also have lunch together every Monday.
Another key to their chemistry, Raley said, is that Chesser seems unfazed if his “No. 2” gets credit for something.
“Some pastors have problems allowing their No. 2 guy get any credit,” Raley said. “I don’t do what I do for credit, but it sure motivates me to keep on going. He is not jealous when people give me credit for stuff.”
That includes occasionally filling in with sermons if Chesser is away.
“If he’s gone, I preach,” Raley said. “And if … people say ‘Bruce did a great job last week,’ that does not intimidate him. At least he doesn’t act like it does. There are some pastors that would never let you preach again.”
‘No. 1 in the No. 2 business’
Chesser joked, “I tell everyone he’s No. 1 in the No. 2 business.” Raley responded, “I deal with a lot of No. 2.”
Raley added, “We are great friends, but when we’re in public, he’s always Pastor Chesser.”
“I never call him Bruce in public,” he said. “I want people to hear me respect the office of pastor. It’s more than Bruce Chesser. It’s the office of pastor. … That’s not at his request. He would not have any problem with me saying Bruce, but that’s me.”
Bottom line, Chesser emphasized, integrity is a key part of the equation. “He’d probably say the same thing about me … but I don’t want a phone call from somebody saying, ‘Did you know Bruce Raley __?’ fill in the blank.”
Chesser later added, “We’ve got maybe an unusual partnership — that maybe a lot of guys don’t have that — but if you can ever get into it, it’s a wonderful thing. I can focus on being pastor. I can go visit the hospitals all day tomorrow and not worry about what’s going on in the office — and come back, teach my night Bible study.”
Raley broke it down to relationship, trust and direction.
“Unknown expectation always leads to frustration — always,” Raley said. “You want to go this way, great. Let’s go. But at least point me in the direction you want the church to go. I don’t feel like it’s my job to give the direction of the church. I believe that’s what God gifts the pastor to do, to give the vision, and let me help you get there.”
For “the Bruces,” the goal is to one day be able to hand off the ministry to the next generation in better shape than they found it.
“That’s our commitment,” Chesser noted, “that we’re going to do that together.”
Editor’s note: This story was written by Shawn Hendricks and originally published by The Baptist Paper.
