Triple D is one of my favorite shows on TV. It has made my DVR list and Guy Fieri is one of my favorite personalities on the Food Network (followed by Bobby Flay).

I always feel like I gain a couple of pounds just by watching that show. The food looks great, and I hope that one of these days, there’ll be a restaurant featured near my area so that we can go visit.

But there’s always one thing that comes to mind when I watch DDD. Well, two. The first one is: Guy always only takes a couple of bites of the food. And he has different plates. What happens to the rest? I hope they don’t waste.

The second thought that runs through my mind is that these restaurants are the dream and vision of the owners. In a couple of BBQ places Guy visited, he asked questions like, how do you when it’s done? And the owner replied, “Oh, I just know.”
So then, what happens to the owner when s/he passes away?
Would the food quality be consistently great? Will there be a difference between the taste of the food in transition of old owner to new? Will the new owner know all the secrets of the former?
Will the restaurant still be able to survive?

I guess it’s not that much different from a church that solely is based on the pastor’s vision.
What happens to the church when the pastor leaves?
What can we as ministers and lay people in the UMC do to make transitions between one pastor and  another as smooth as possible?